Sonic X: Dark Chaos
by Eric Neo Matrix
Summary: A remake of Sonic X Season 3. When a young alien girl crashes on Mobius, a whole new adventure begins for Sonic and friends. Hunted across the stars by a murderous two-tailed android fox, our heroes soon find themselves dead center of an interstellar conflict between Heaven and Hell. But there are far greater horrors than mere demons and angels beyond the void...
1. Episode 53: The Cosmic Messenger

This is my own take on Season 3 of Sonic X. Since there are 26 episodes in Season 3, there will be 26 chapters.

There'll be many many changes, which I won't mention now, but you'll see them as they come up. There'll probably be pretty big gaps in-between updates, since it takes a while to rewrite every episode, especially with rewriting certain parts and adding all-new content.

Readers should be advised that this fanfiction is rated M for strong language and extreme graphic violence in the later episodes. There also is some suggestive content, too, but nothing too bad (no sex scenes or anything).

Disclaimer: I do not own Sonic and friends as well as the Metarex and Sonic X, they are all owned by Sega, Sonic Team, and all respective owners. Tsali and all OCs are owned by me.

...

**Sonic X: Dark Chaos**

**Episode 53: The Cosmic Messenger**

The powerful being known as Super Sonic dodged and weaved around the relentless attacks of his mysterious opponent, several miles above his home planet of Mobius.

A jet-black fox - Sonic's dogged opponent - let up on his attacks and floated still. With apparently extreme determination, this opponent was so powerful that not even Super Sonic could defeat him.

_'Boy, this guy is tough...I gotta finish this, quick,_' Sonic thought, as he prepared to fight again. The black fox also readied himself for yet another barrage of aggression.

After a short pause, they both flew at each other with extreme power, lighting up the sky with their impact. Sonic was thrown back, and he felt his power draining as he got more tired by the second. Unfortunately, his enemy looked completely unaffected.

"...You're not as strong as you think you are, Sonic. Give me the Chaos Emeralds, or else!" The black fox commanded.

Sonic knew the only way he could save the Emeralds. He stretched out his hands, and the seven glowing Chaos Emeralds appeared around him.

**"Chaos Control!" **Sonic yelled, and they all shot across space to parts unknown. The black fox seemed unfazed by Sonic's move.

Sonic, all out of energy, lost his super form and collapsed, his body falling into the atmosphere. The black fox, however, remained. He looked down on the planet with loathing in his eyes. That's when he noticed that the blow when Sonic and himself collided had exposed his metal underskin.

Not heeding his wounds, the fox turned and flew away.

...

Down on Planet Mobius, it was a quiet night, and Tails, Amy, and Cream were all on a hilltop. Tails had set up a video camera, as there were about to observe a beautiful meteor shower.

"How much longer do we have to wait?" Cream asked.

"I'm not exactly sure, Cream. Not too long." Tails assured.

"... This would be so romantic of Sonic was here to see it with me!" Amy fantasized. "Soon the whole sky will be filled with shooting stars!"

"According to the astronomers, we only get a meteor shower this large only every five hundred years or so. We're really lucky to be here." Tails explained.

"I surely wouldn't want to wait that long to see it again. Would you?" Cream said to her chaos, Cheese. Cheese replied with a little reply of _"Chao!"_

"We should all make a wish!" Amy offered.

"Why?" Tails inquired and turned around.

"Chris told us that if you wish whenever you see a shooting star, it'll come true! Remember?" Cream explained.

"Yeah... It's too bad Chris and Chuck aren't here to see this with us." Tails said sadly.

"I miss them. I wish I could go back to their world." Cream wished. That's when they all spotted a white ball streaking across the sky.

"Hey, it's starting!" Tails said, and readied the video camera. Instantly, what seemed to be thousands of bright-white streaks filled the sky in a stunning display of light.

"They look like fireworks!" Cream commented.

"I'm sure glad I brought a camera." Tails also commented. That's when they noticed a meteor that almost seemed like it was coming straight _towards_ them.

"That sure is a strange meteor..." Amy commented.

"It looks like it's... coming straight for us...!" Cream added. All three of the heroes instinctively ducked as the "meteor" sailed over their heads behind a nearby hill. A gigantic _boom_ was accompanied by a mighty reumbling blast as the "meteor" hit the ground.

Surprised, Amy, Cream, and Tails ran over to the impact site, weaving around flattened trees laying all about. They saw that it wasn't a meteor at all; it was a tiny spacecraft, obviously damaged beyond repair thanks to the copious amounts of smoke billowing from the hull.

However, the most interesting discovery lay a few feet in front of it. A small girl with green hair lay motionless in front of the wreck. Tails ran over to her and held her, checking her vitals; she made a small moan in response.

"It looks like she needs help," commented Tails.

"Here, let's take her to Cream's house," Amy suggested.

...

Sonic woke up to find himself lying on a bed; he was weak, and he felt morbidly tired. However, his alertness overcame him, and his eyes snapped open.

"It's about time that you finally came to," Sonic heard a familiar voice from his right. Sure enough, in a nearby revolving chair sat the burly Dr. Ivo Robotnik.

"Eggman... What happened?" Sonic asked the man.

"I've been sitting here for the better part of a week waiting for you to wake up and tell _me,_" Eggman said, proceeding to explain. "I went out for a jog along the beach, but I spotted you nearly dead on the sand. You were in pretty bad shape. It was a difficult choice; I had to decide whether to save you, or wait for the tide to come in."

"You were in terrible shape, Sonic. Dr. Eggman saved your life." the small gray robot known as Becoe popped out of nowhere.

"If he hadn't, he wouldn't have had anyone to fight," Decoe also popped up. For some reason, Decoe and Eggman shrugged. Suddenly, Bokkun, holding a glass of something, flew down in front of Sonic.

"So how did you end up on the beach, anyway?" Bokkun asked.

"... I... I was fighting somebody in my Super form." Sonic answered. He stood up; by accident, he knocked Bokkun's drink out of his hand, which splattered all over the robot's face.

"Hey, sorry, but I can't say anymore!" Sonic apolagised, and started to speed away.

"You're leaving already?" Robotnik asked.

"See ya later, Eggman!" Sonic said, and sped off.

"Hey, you owe us, Sonic!" Decoe yelled after him.

"Let's get him!" Bokkun yelled.

While all three of his worker robots just kept shouting and yelling at Sonic, Eggman simply was wondering who Sonic got in a battle with; whoever it was, it must've been a very, very powerful being, for Sonic had never been defeated when he was Super Sonic.

From the vent just above him, unbeknownst to Eggman, he was being watched by a familiar treasure-hunting bat.

...

_Cosmo was running through the dark corridor of a ship; running from what, she did not know. She ran and ran, and felt like her lungs would burst._

_Suddenly, an blue-coloured explosion in front of her knocked her back. In the smoke, she saw the very one she was fleeing from; a black fox, stoic and ruthless. As the fox turned its head around, its dark-blue eyes full of hatred and loathing turning towards her, and they glowed blue, indicating that the fox was about to use some kind of Chaos power._

_Cosmo was shocked; she couldn't to anything but cower. She was too scared to even move._

_"COSMO! RUN AWAY! GO, NOW!" she heard a voice yell from behind her._

The green girl, known as Cosmo, regained consciousness and snapped out of her dream. Her vision was blurry. She heard a voice beside her saying "Look, she's waking up."

Cosmo slowly got up, feeling tired and weak. She noticed several figures beside her bed; a pink hedgehog and two rabbits; one tall, one short. However, she then noticed what she was fearing the most; a small fox with two tails.

**"GAAH!"** She screamed in fright as she locked eyes with Tails; she thought it was none other than her worst nightmare.

Tails, along with the others, recoiled in surprise from her reflexive reaction. "Whoa! Are you okay?" Cosmo then realized that this fox couldn't possibly be her nemesis; he didn't have his voice nor his mannerisms.

She calmed down slightly, relieved that her first impression was wrong. "Wait... You're not Tsali..."

"... Tsali?" Tails asked, not recognizing the name.

"You were in a big crash. You're really lucky you came out of that crash alive," Amy changed the subject,

"Could you tell us your name and where you and your ship came from?" Cream suggested.

Cosmo was a bit scared. "I can't..." she quietly replied.

"You mean, you can't remember?" the younger rabbit asked.

"I can remember, but I... can't tell you." Cosmo answered shyly.

"But why?" Tails asked.

"I am looking for someone on this planet named Sonic the Hedgehog. It's crucial that I speak to him ASAP... Before it's too late." Cosmo answered.

"You can talk to us. We'll help you if we can. What's the matter?" The fox offered.

"I... I can't tell you." Cosmo rebutted him.

"Well, I have a right to know what this is all about! Sonic's my boyfriend, and you better not try anything," The pink hedgehog shouted. Cosmo was just stared at her.

"Amy! Don't be rude. She didn't come here to date him," Cream held back the hedgehog.

"We're friends of Sonic, so maybe we can help." Tails offered.

"Friends?" Cosmo asked.

"... My name is Miles Prower, but everybody calls me by my nickname, Tails." Tails introduced himself.

"And I'm Cream. It's very nice to meet you," The small rabbit kindly introduced herself.

"And _my_ name is Amy Rose! You're not gonna be here long, are you?" The pink hedgehog said in a still-stern voice. Cosmo just felt a bit scared, while Tails and Vanilla sweatdropped.

Suddenly, everybody heard a rumble, and everybody went to look out the window. The dark night sky suddenly glowed a bright blue as a shimmering ball of blue light streaked across the sky towards the planet.

When it impacted the top of a nearby mountain, a large blue explosion bloomed over the rocks, and from that explosion, a strange black fox appeared, floating in the air. It appeared to be looking about for something.

"What is that?" Cream asked.

"I don't know. It looks like a strange black fox..." Tails replied, trying to get a better look, "Hey wait a second! That fox has two tails, just like me!"

"You should stay in bed." Vanilla said behind them. They noticed Cosmo had gotten out of bed, and wanted to see what was the commotion. As soon as she looked out, she almost fell back in fear.

"So, he finally found me..." Cosmo muttered, "... Tsali's vengeance... has come to take me."

That's when several lightening bolts appeared, and without warning, areas of the forest exploded into brilliant azure-blue flames. The blue flames soon spread, spreading everywhere in seconds with a terrible whooshing sound. It was as if a nuclear firestorm had randomly erupted, except that it was blue.

"What the...! What's he doing?" Amy shouted.

Amy, Tails, Cosmo, and Cream all ran out of the door, and ran into the intact woods to see what was going on.

...

Meanwhile, on Angel Island, the echidna known as Knuckles was formerly sleeping on the hard stone steps in front of his beloved Master Emerald, but he was awakened by the explosion. He woke a sat up, and stared in wonder as the fox revealed himself in the fire. The fox, all of a sudden, went down closer to the ground, just above tree level.

"This looks like... trouble..." Knuckles muttered. Tsali's eyes glowed.

The black fox held out one of his hands. Without warning, a wave spread across the ground that uprooted and vaporized any trees in its path. Knuckles covered his eyes, as the ground shook and blue lightnening bolts flashed everywhere along the ground. Soon enough, the verdant forest was a now raging inferno of cobalt flames.

"... If that guy isn't stopped, he's gonna burn up every tree in the forest!" Knuckles said.

"Hey, knock it off, you jackass!" The fox sensed something about to attack him.

Knuckles flew up behind him, preparing for a swift kick. However, without warning, he felt some invisible force yank him backwards, like a magnet repelling from another magnet.

That's when the fox sensed his prize. He flew up into the air, and shot like a rifle bullet at the ground. With the sheer power of his strike, the ground shattered, and a small, galaxy-like object inside a crystal was revealed in the crater.

The fox floated down and grasped the object. It glowed in his hands as he leaped off into the woods. He admired his prize; the item he needed as energy harvesters, the fuel for the flames of his endless vengeance. The Planet Egg glowed slightly, and the glass sphere around it shined a little bit in the pre-dawn light. He felt the cobalt flames of his wrath burn everything around him.

Suddenly, he sensed a small group of figures approaching his location; in a nearby clearing stood a small fox closely resembling Tsali himself, a pink hedgehog, and small orange rabbit, and, as Tsali had sensed, the hated Cosmo.

Cosmo immediately cowered behind Tails and Cream, and Tsali could not help but smirk. From their location, Tsali's entire body was dramtically silhouetted by the blue flames to his rear like some sort of demonic god.

"Alright, you two-tailed fire freak!" Knuckles land next to his friends. Despite this development, the black fox did not say a word. Everybody focused their attention on the new villain.

"Hey you!" A voice came from the sky, and suddenly, a familiar blue hedgehog

"Sonikku!" Amy cried, her face instantly radiating with joy. Knuckles was the only one who hekld her back from glomping the blue hedgehog.

However, Tsali focused all his attention on Tails, even though it was obvious he noticed Sonic. _So, this young child is the Chosen One? Well, he does look just like me..._ He jumped down into the clearing, closer to Sonic and his friends.

"Who the hell are you?" Knuckles demanded.

The black fox just smiled. Unknown to any of them except for Tsali, Tails and Cosmo had slipped away, and were piloting the X-Tornado. But Tsali decided that he wanted to have a little fun before he got off this rock, so he let them slip away.

"... My name is Tsali, and I am the Ultimate Weapon," The fox introduced himself, and pulled out a strange object. The heroes recognized it as a Chaos Emerald, but it didn't have the same color as any of the Chaos Emeralds. It was jet-black, just like Tsali's fur.

Knuckles suddenly started to glow red with anger, his power increasing sevenfold. "You'll regret coming here and trashing our planet!" He violently charged towards Tsali with ownage on his mind.

However, as soon as he was about to punch, Knuckles was thrown away by a simple stationary swipe. Tsali didn't even bat an eye.

"Knuckles!" Sonic shouted.

The hedgehog took a step forward, but faster than his eye could see or his body could move, Tsali disappeared with a distinctive _shriek!_ He suddenly reppeared behind the group. He then disappeared and then reappeared again, teleporting back to where he started.

"He can... use Chaos Control...?" Sonic muttered in disbelief. He then gathered his will and, trying to do something to help his friends, charged. However, he felt something stop him, almost like an invisible brick all. Without warning, he was shunted away with incredible power, much more than he could normally handle. Sonic went flying over the trees.

"Here guys, I'll help!" A voice came down from above; Tails and Cosmo in the X-Tornado were flying down at them. Tsali simply watched it with almost quiet interest.

The X-Tornado's guns ripped, and hundreds of bullets shot out at the ground. Plumes of dust came from the strafing, but Tsali was completely unharmed, even though several bullets had hit him. The high-velocity rounds had literally pinged off of his skin harmlessly.

Amy realized what that meant; _Could this fox be... a robot? And what does that girl have to do with all of this? Does she know anything about this robotic fox?_

Several missiles shot from the Tornado, but as they hit Tsali, their explosions simply faded off, and Tsali was totally unharmed. In reply, Tsali held up his right arm so that it was aiming at Tails. A secret hatch that was covered with black fur suddenly opened up in his wrist, and out of it, an extremely tiny multi-barreled personal cannon popped out.

As the back end of the wrist weapon opened, Tsali slipped his black Emerald inside and shut it, the weapon rapidly beginning to glow blue with Chaos Energy. The black fox aimed carefully as his wrist-gun began glowing a bright blue.

Instantly, he opened up; the weapon fired a hurricane of blue Chaos Spears right up at Tails's plane. Tsali attempted to dodge the veritable anti-aircraft fire of their enemy as the black fox unleashed a furious storm.

Sonic attempted to get him while he wasn't looking, but Tsali sensed him coming; thus, he turned and opened up on Sonic instead. The blue hedgehog took cover from the hail of deadly cobalt bolts, which proceeded to brutally tear up everything behind the hedgehog, trees and soil alike.

By now, it was almost morning, and the sun was rising. The sky was beginning to turn bright and blue. Tsali suddenly held fire, opened up his personal wrist cannon, took his Emerald out, and closed it. The weapon retracted into Tsali's arm muscles, while a tiny hatch closed over it.

He then crouched, a wave of blue Chaos Energy rippling through the ground in a radius of several feet. He immediately shot up at light-speed into the sky, a blue blur going up and up.

"Hold it!" Sonic said, jumping up after Tsali.

Tsali said nothing in reply, but he pointed his finger down at the hedgehog. Promptly, a dozen blue Chaos Spears appeared from thin air and launched at him. Sonic was hit by one of them and was knocked to the ground.

"I got ya!" Knuckles yelled, and, with a football dive, he caught Sonic while skidding on the ground.

Everybody suddenly realized that all the plants and the trees were starting to wither and die. They simply stared dumbstruck as everything began to slowly wilt and turn barren in a few seconds.

"He's got the Planet Egg!" Cosmo, from the X-Tornado, said.

"Planet Egg?" Tails asked.

"It's the life force of you planet. It's the thing that gives your planet the power to sustain life. Without it, everything will soon perish. You have to get him, fast!" Cosmo explained.

"Uhh... Okay then, I'll stop this guy!" Tails instantly shot the plane upwards, giving chase to Tsali.

Tsali, with his impressive speed, was very very far ahead of Tails; Tails wasn't sure if his plane could handle the altitude. Slowly but surely, Tsali got farther and farther away, and soon enough, he exited the Mobian atmosphere.

"I can't go any higher! This plane wasn't designed to travel in space." Tails said, but he heard a few moans behind him.

He looked backwards, "Cosmo, are you alright?"

"I'm just... a little... dizzy." Cosmo said, shaking it off.

"Sorry. I just wish I got the Planet Egg back." Tails said. Cosmo, for some reason, was starting to open the cockpit.

"Hey, could you open this, please? You can open it while you're flying, can't you?" Cosmo asked. Tails seemed a bit confused by her question.

"Yeah, but I'm not sure it's such a good idea at this altitude." Tails replied.

"Please, Tails?"

"... Oh, OK, if you really want me to." Tails gave in, and opened the cockpit glass. Wind whooshed around, making Tail's fur and Cosmo's green hair whip from the wind.

"There you go!" Tails said, squinting, but to his shock, he saw Cosmo climbing out of the seat. She jumped off the plane, and hurtled through the sky forseveral seconds before her skirt unfolded and she slowly floated to the ground. Tails was a bit suprised at her manuever, but he simply shrugged it off and flew back down towards the planet.

He started to fly towards Angel Island, when he noticed something flashing.

"Hey, what's that?" Tails muttered.

He suddenly realized that it was the Master Emerald, glowing on and off for some reason. Tails went off to land his plane and get the news to Sonic.

...

"You didn't put up much of a fight against that guy, Sonic. Are you sure you're feeling okay?" Knuckles asked. They were talking in the black remains of the forest.

"You don't seem like your old self." Amy added with concern.

"It's been a long day, so I guess I'm a little tired... Huh?" Sonic said. Everybody looked up; they saw Cosmo floating downwards softly using her skirt as a type of parachute. She landed and brushed off her skirt.

"There you are. My name is Cosmo. I need to speak with you Sonic." Cosmo said to Sonic.

"... Okay." Sonic said after a short pause.

"I have sought you out because I know you have the power to control the Chaos Emeralds. I came here because I know that you are the one who can save the galaxy from the wrath of Tsali." Cosmo explained.

"Uhhh... I am?" Sonic asked incredulously.

Amy, meanwhile, had numerous thoughts buzzing in her head. _This girl obviously knows more about this fox than she is telling..._

"Hey guys! It's happening!" a voice called out from behind Sonic. From a ways away, Sonic saw Tails running towards them.

"What's happening?" Knuckles asked. Little did he realize that one of his old friends was about to come back to them one more time.

...

Sonic and his friends were all around the Master Emerald, staring at it as it flashed. Soon enough, a small black figure appeared inside of it. Everybody watched closer to see what this was.

That's when Sonic and Knuckles realized who it was, as the figure seemed to walk "forward."

"Is that...?" Amy wondered.

"...Chris!" Sonic and Knuckles exclaimed simultaneously.

"... It worked... I-I did it!... I actually did it!...** SONIC!"** A young voice spoke from the Emerald. Without warning, a human boy appeared, and fell down.

As he moved his eyes, he suddenly realized that he was back in his 12 year-old body; the oversized clothes were bagging off of him.

"Wait... Huhh?" Chris shouted in suprise.

...


	2. Episode 54: Tsali vs the Metarex

Alrighty, people, here's the next episode.

Note that most of the episodes will probably be very long; at least 3000 words or more on average, most likely at least 4000. That's because I'm rewriting the entire Episode and adding in lots of stuff

...

**Episode 54: Tsali vs. the Metarex**

"...What's going on? What happened to my clothes?" Chris started to ask, looking at his baggy labcoat and pants.

"Great to see you, Chris!" Tails stepped forward and greeted.

"We really missed you," Cream also greeted.

"It's about time you showed up." Amy said, with a little giggle.

"Good to see ya, ol' bud!" Knuckles also stepped forward.

Cosmo and Sonic stayed behind their other friends. "Sonic, who is that?" The young Seedrian asked.

"Oh, him? That's Chris, one of my old friends," Sonic answered, and the human locked eyes with Sonic for the first time in years.

"... Hi Sonic." Chris said, sounding almost stunned.

"Hey Chris," Sonic greeted. "I knew you'd get here sooner or later, buddy."

Chris started to walk forward, though it was difficult with the baggy clothes. "Sonic... I can't believe I'm actually here! It's been a long time. You haven't changed a bit," Chris said, and looked back at everyone, "Come to think of it... None of you have, actually."

"Doesn't look like you changed much either, Except for the baggy clothes. Is there something we've been missing out on?" Sonic asked.

"N-No, I honestly don't know what's going on..." Chris said, but before he could continue, Sonic let out a short moan and cupped his face in his hands.

"Sonic, what's wrong?" Knuckles wondered aloud. The hedgehog's body promptly fell over in a heap to the ground. Everybody gathered around Sonic as Tails checked his vitals.

"He should be okay. I think he's just exhausted." Tails said, putting his hand on Sonic's forehead.

"Guess he still needs to recover from that battle." Knuckles added.

"... Battle? What battle?" Chris asked in a suprised voice.

...

Not too long later, everybody was back at Cream's house. Vanilla was putting Sonic to bed; Cosmo was proceeding to explain all of these events to everyone; Chris, Knuckles, Amy, Tails, Cream, and Cheese were all sitting around her.

"Your friend Sonic was fighting against Tsali, the Ultimate Weapon..." Cosmo began explaining.

"Who is this Tsali? Do you know anything about him?" Amy asked.

"... I know too little about him to really explain. I don't understand what his motives are, or why he hates me and my race so much, but I do know that for a long time, he has been attacking planets all over the galaxy and exterminating my people." Cosmo explained, "He is nothing short of a death god; all-powerful, unstoppable, and savage beyond comprehension. He has butchered millions of innocents and extinguished countless planets..."

"Wait, what do you mean 'extinguished'?" Amy asked.

"Tsali doesn't just ravage whole planets with his dark powers; he also takes their Planet Eggs."

"Whoa, slow down a bit," Knuckles interrupted, "Planet Eggs?"

"The Planet Eggs are like the hearts of planets. Without them, planets slowly lose their power to nuture and sustain life. Eventually, they become barren lifeless rocks drifting through space. Now that Tsali took your Planet Egg, your planet will wither just like the others have. I don't know exactly what use they are to Tsali, though." Cosmo explained in a sad tone.

"... Our planet will _die_?" Amy asked.

"... That's correct. However, I do know one other thing about Tsali; he is fighting against an intergalactic robot army known as the Metarex."

"Metarex?"

"The Metarex, as far as I know, are an organization of Seedrians, the remains of my species. They are the survivors of Tsali's genocide who have banded together to fight him using robotic soldiers. My father, Luke the Seedrian, is the leader of the Metarex, known by his codename Dark Oak. Tsali is his mortal enemy - although I don't know why - and they have been fighting over the galaxy for years." Cosmo explained more.

Knuckles felt mystified and threatened by her knowledge of their new enemy. "Hold on just a moment! How do we know you're not really on Tsali's side? You seem to know an awful lot about him."

A shocked look swept Cosmo's face. "Because I'm not! Tsali is a monstrous genocidal killer, and will murder anyone and anything that dares stand against him, even his own friends. I'm not with him! You have to believe me!"

"... I wish." Knuckles said, still doubtful.

"Well, at least let's hear her out," Chris said, and Cosmo prepared to speak again.

"I came here so that what happened to me might not happen to all of you. My planet is gone. Tsali annihilated it, and my family and friends were..." Cosmo started, and suddenly burst into tears, choking through her sobs, "... Tsali slaughtered my entire family, and took away everything I loved before my very eyes! Everything that I cared for is gone because of HIM! Everything! Because of HIM!"

Everybody was suprised and stunned into silence; Cosmo really did know Tsali all too well.

...

"She's calmed down a little. I think she'll be okay." Chris said as he closed the door. Cosmo was resting; she was tired out from her weeping earlier.

"I can't believe that Knuckles was giving that poor thing such a hard time." Amy said.

"What I can't believe is that you built an interdimensional teleporter in only six months," Tails commented.

"Only six _months_?" Chris exclaimed, "So that's why you look the same! Back home, it's been six _years_ since I last saw you!"

"If it has really been six years, then why do you look the same?" Tails asked.

"I'm... I have no idea," Chris replied, "I guess time just works differently depending on the dimension."

"Heh, don't worry, we'll figure it out." Amy said with a little giggle. She went to the nearby door to check on Sonic, but immediatly, a shocked look spread over her face.

**"SONIC'S GONE!"** she shouted. Tails and Chris ran over to see. Sure enough, the bed was vacant, and the window open.

"Huh?" Tails exclaimed.

"He must've gone out the window." Chris suggested.

"He doesn't even say goodbye!" Amy said, making her anger quite obvious.

"That's Sonic for ya. No matter what, he just takes off. He can't even stay still when he's passed out." Tails said, with an ol' anime sweatdrop.

"I'm just glad he's okay." Chris said.

...

Sonic, in his usual fashion, sprinted across the rolling hills and through the many deep woods. Soon enough, he came to a very steep mountain, but as always, he simply zoomed up the slope, and stopped at the summit to have a look.

Far in front of him, a massive, barren crater scarred the land. Fissures and cracks in the ground still remained from the effects of Tsali's power. Much of the land was torn up like scraps of paper. But Sonic noticed something else strange; there was a gel-like blue liquid in the center, slowly bubbling.

"That's wierd... " Sonic muttered, :I wonder what that blue stuff is..."

Running down the mountain, he knelt beside the puddle and sniffed it; the resulting scent caused Sonic to recoil backwards in surprise from the stinging sensation that it gave his nostrils.

He rubbed his nose, and peered at it once again. "Whoa... what is this stuff?" He knelt down to touch the substance, and was met by the equivelant of a sharp sting.

"GAH!" He yelped in pain as the substance burned his hand, and he backed away. "I'm not touching that again..."

Meanwhile, at Vanilla's cottage, Chris was busy trying to get everything set straight, and what had all happened during the previous six Mobian months.

"Here, this should fit you better. It's just like your old clothes." Vanilla said, getting out a version of Chris's old shirt.

"It sure is. Thanks." Chris replied. _Man, this is embarressing..._

...

"Something's not right..." Knuckles muttered, looking at his precious Master Emerald, "I don't trust that Cosmo."

"So, is it true Knuckles?" a voice echoed behind him. Knuckles turned around; Rouge fluttered just behind him.

"Is what true?" Knuckles asked.

"I heard that all seven Chaos Emeralds were gone." Rouge replied.

"Yep, it's true. Sonic thought it'd be a good idea to scatter them all into space, and not only that, but Chris teleported here from his world somehow. Things are crazy here; that Tails look-a-like attacks us, then Cosmo appears..." Knuckles kept ranting on.

"... See you around, Knucky!" Rouge's voice called. Knuckles snapped out of his rant, and noticed that Rouge was flying away.

"Hey, Rouge! Come back here! You got a lotta nerve flying off while I'm still talking! ROUGE!" Knuckles yelled. But Rouge simply kept flying farther and farther away.

"That fucking bat..." The echidna muttered to nobody in particular.

...

Cosmo stood outside looking up at the sky, with Cream playing with her adorable little Chao Cheese beside her.

"Such a pretty place..." Cosmo commented.

"I'm glad you like it. Our planet's great. Maybe you'll be able to live here." Cream replied.

"Maybe," Cosmo said with a smile, which hid her true thoughts._ She doesn't understand... without the Planet Egg, her planet will not survive..._

"... You know, Cream, if we don't get the Planet Egg back..." Cosmo began.

"We will," Cream interrupted, "We have Sonic on our side. He'll make everything okay."

"But Sonic isn't strong without the Chaos Emeralds..." Cosmo said, but she was interrupted again by a speeding blue blur whooshing past her. Sonic suddenly stopped right next to the flower girl.

"Well, then we'll just have to go find them!" Sonic said.

"I wish you had them now..." Cosmo said with a tinge of regret.

"Maybe I could've done something else instead of scattering the Chaos Emeralds, but it seemed like a good idea at the time," Sonic remembered, "Well, at least Tsali didn't get them."

Tails, Cream, and Chris suddenly walked outside. "You must've be pretty wiped out from fighting him." Tails commented, remembering how strong Tsali was when he stole the Planet Egg, as well as how quickly he beat Knuckles and Sonic.

"Believe me, I was! When I transformed into Super Sonic, I thought that Tsali guy would be a piece of cake to defeat, but did I get a surprise; he tossed me up and bowled me over. I didn't even see him coming." Sonic said.

"Sonic, listen for a moment," Cosmo said, starting to speak, "Tsali is extremely powerful; he has traveled through the entire galaxy and has taken every Egg from almost every planet he's encountered."

"Don't worry Cosmo, there's nothing to worry about as long as I'm here. We'll get all the Planet Eggs and Chaos Emeralds back, I promise!" Sonic assured.

"... A dangerous quest in outer space; could anything be more romantic?" Amy fantasized.

"Cheese and I wouldn't miss an adventure like this!" Cream offered.

"You can count me in." Tails volunteered.

"I wanna go too! I've been waiting six years to have another adventure with you guys." Chris also volunteered.

"Great, then I guess it's settled!" Sonic cheered.

...

Later, Tails and co. were walking downstairs into a pitch-black hanger area deep beneath the bluff behind Tails's workshop

"Tails... to go into space, won't we need some kind of spaceship?" Chris asked as he and his friends descended the staircase of the huge, dark basement of Tails's workshop. Tails turned and smiled, reaching out for a nearby lamp switch.

"Tada!" Tails said, and he flicked on the lights. The bright kliegs switched on in groups, until they revealed Tails's greatest creation. In the center of the enormous hanger sat a gigantic, elegant white space frigate with blue and yellow coloring streaks on certain sections.

Everybody gasped; Sonic followed with a whistle.

"It's so big!" both Cream and Amy exclaimed simultaneously.

"It's a multipurpose, fully-functional flying fort! I call it the Blue Typhoon, and with a few quick adjustments, it can even travel through space." Tails explained. "Only..."

"Only what?" Chris asked.

"Well, I was planning on using the Chaos Emeralds to power it. Now what are we gonna do?" Tails explained.

"Hmm... I got an idea!" Chris suddenly jolted.

...

"Arrggh... I shouldn't have told that asshole Rouge anything." Knuckles said as he walked through the forest. As he turned his head, he noticed something was wrong; very wrong, in fact

"Oh my god..." Knuckles muttered, fearing the worst. Sure enough, it was true; **"****THE MASTER EMERALD'S GONE... AGAIN! **If Rouge did it, I'll fucking kill her... Or perhaps..." He turned to the direction of Tails's house, and immediately got an idea of who took it.

...

"The readings look good, Chris." Tails said from the control of the engine levels. The Master Emerald was in a large slot below him.

"With the Master Emerald, we should have enough power to get the correct altitude." Chris spoke as he helped connect the large gem to the ship.

Sure enough, as Knuckles ran into the engine room of the Blue Typhoon, he found the large Master Emerald in a slot, with Sonic and the others around it.

"WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING?" Knuckles shouted as he charged in.

"We're gonna borrow your Master Emerald for a little while." Sonic explained.

"No way, Sonic!" The echidna demanded. "Not this time."

"But we need it to go into space!" Amy added.

"What the hell for?" Knuckles asked.

"We need it to go into space in order to find the seven Chaos Emeralds and defeat Tsali." Cosmo explained.

"We're gonna go through space, battle that meanie Tsali and save planets! Doesn't it sound like the best adventure ever?" Cream added.

"... What the fuck is so good about that?" Knuckles muttered, the vein in his head bulging and his body twitching, "... NOW GIVE ME BACK THAT GODDAMN EMERALD, SONIC, OR I'LL COME UP THERE AND KICK YOUR ASS!"

"Knuckles, you're so nasty!" Cream snapped angrily, "Stop it!"

"Why are you saying this? The fate of the whole galaxy is at stake here!" Cosmo added.

"... But if you won't listen to us, I think I'll be able to knock some sense into you." Amy said with a sinister smile, as Knuckles saw the evil twink in her eye that signalled a painful appointment with her Piko Piko Hammer.

"Wait a sec, no! Stop!" Knucles tried to beg, but it was no use. All three girls slowly advanced, and then, they all tackled him to the ground. "SONIC, HELP ME!"

"I'd like to, but I don't get involved in fights I can't win. You're on your own. Maybe next time you'll learn that you shouldn't irk Amy, Knuckles." Sonic said with a wink.

...

A large humanoid Metarex robot, its arms and legs concealed, flew above the planet. It's camera flashed with images of the Blue Typhoon, as well as its crew.

_"Do not let that ship escape the planet,"_ a robotic voice echoed in its communicator, _"Stop that spacecraft, and find out if Tsali is on that ship. If Tsali is there, rip that ship apart. If not, pull out and report."_

In complience to his orders from Dark Oak, the Metarex robot boosted through the planet's atmosphere. As he landed, he scanned the Blue Typhoon, and thus, he found his target; a two-tailed fox sitting in the bridge of the ship.

_"Tsali detected! Directive No. #1 initializing: Kill Ultimate Weapon!"_

_..._

"This should be the last things we need to haul from home. Now, we just need to get them onto the ship." Amy and Cream walked up the green hill, carrying bags full of their things.

"I can't believe it! Soon, we'll be speeding off..." Cream said, but she was interrupted when she saw Cosmo; Cosmo was sitting on a tree stump nearby, alone.

"Hi Cosmo." Cream said, walking next to her. "Hey, would you mind carrying these things downhill for me?" She put down her bags.

"Okay." Cosmo complied. She walked over, and lifted the bags with some struggle. She started to wobble.

"Are you sure you can handle it?"

"... I got it." Cosmo assured. However, she then fell over and rolled down the hill, and impacted the ground with a loud thud. Many of the things inside the bagwere strewn about.

"Cosmo, are you okay?" Amy shouted, running down the hill with Cream.

"I'm... I think I'm fine." Cosmo got up.

However, she was interrupted by the sky turning dark for a split second, and then, out of nowhere, a huge metal robot flew above their heads faster than the speed of sound. It impacted behind a hill nearby.

"What the hell is that?" Amy wondered aloud.

"... A Metarex..." Cosmo muttered.

The gigantic Metarex mech, which had landed face-first in the dust, extended its arms and legs and got up to its feet.

_"Following Directive No. #1: Kill Ultimate Weapon." _A microphone in the robot spoke. The machine extended its arms, and several lasers fired from its fingers, aimed at the hanger of the Blue Typhoon. They streaked towards the hill, and caused large dust plumes as they impacted.

"Hey, why is it firing on us?" Amy wondered aloud.

"... I don't know what's going on, but we should get outta here before it kills us by mistake!" Cosmo suggested.

_"Firing ERROR 15493; readjusting..." _The robot froze for a moment. It was unprepared for the blue blur that struck immediatly. Sonic leaped onto its head, and pushed the robot down as Sonic bounded right off.

Under this distraction, Knuckles jumped and punched from the other side. The robot flew back and hit the ground, kicking up a dust storm.

However, the robot's hand came up. A large sword appeared in its hand, and it slashed towards Sonic and Knuckles. They both leaped over it as the sword sliced through several trees like they weren't even there.

"I don't think we're gonna defeat it this way!" Knuckles said.

"I know, but we gotta buy Tails some time." Sonic retorted. The Metarex robot stood up yet again.

_"Tsali detected! Exterminate!" _The robot demanded.

Suddenly, Knuckles got an idea of what the robots was referring to. "Tsali isn't here! He left the planet last night! We don't know where he is."

_"... Exterminate!" _The giant robot replied. The hedgehog and echidna suddenly realized something that they didn't figure before, however; this Metarex thought that Tails was actually Tsali thanks to their similar appearance.

...

Far away to the west down the long coastline, in a large lab, lived the irrepressible - and irresistable - green hedgehog known as Eric the Hedgehog.

His green fur, silver highlights, and green shoes were his trademarks, and he was known as an all-around hooligan. He was an old friend of Sonic, even though occasionally they both were at odds.

Eric lived with his best friends Nolan, Brian, and his old-school mates Mighty the Aramdillo and Fang the Weasel, as well as little cousin Chase. His girlfriend, Sonya Nakamuri the Hedgehog, usually lived with her grandmother, but would of course spend most of her time with him.

Eric took a couple of skips outside; he was nearly always happy and natrually, he was an eternal comedian, lacking empathy of any kind. The sun shined down brightly; a clear day, with no clouds at all.

Too bad they weren't gonna be there for long.

Some weeks earlier, Eric and his friends were tasked by an anonymous source to kill two unknown assassins along with the location of said targets, with a big reward in store. Thus, they were going out to find these two mysterious criminals.

Thus, he had recently designed and personally built his own battleship; the Dreadnought. Suprisingly enough, he had named it after his own personal fighter craft; just as Tails had the Tornado, Eric had a very slightly more-advanced fighter plane with the ability to transform into an attack gunship with two wings loaded with weapons called the Dreadnought.

Not just that, but Eric's fighter, also like the Tornado, could turn into a mech walker. Obviously, the plane was painted green, since green was Eric's favourite colour.

Of course, Eric had loaded the Dreadnought fighter onto the battleship Dreadnought beforehand. Since he knew that it would be easy to confuse the two, he decided to rename the fighter the E-Dreadnought, just as Tails renamed his fighter the X-Tornado.

Eric, going back inside, went to a nearby normal wall and pressed a small console leaning against the wall. The switch activated a hidden elevator right below Eric, and it descended down into the basement.

His basement was massive, but well lit. The sound of moving machinery echoed; all of his friends were down here, making the final touches on the Dreadnought.

Eric marveled on his own creation: The battleship was a giant dagger-shape, like a Star Destroyer, but it had an elegant curve to the bottom-front hull. It was a green/dark-green coloured craft, and the bridge of the ship was on a short tower near the back. It was only about the size of Tails's frigate, but unlike the Blue Typhoon, it was armed to the teeth.

Eric put with his own spin on it; a weapon partially inspired by the principal cannon on Tails's ship, the Sonic Driver. Eric thus created the Eric Driver, after the inspiration.

And no, it wasn't a total clone; it had plenty of differences from Tails's gun.

It wasn't that Eric was adding all those weapons just because he wanted to attack people; he just wanted to make sure he and his friends had some protection, as well as the fact that he wanted his ship to look as awesome and strong as possible.

"Hey dude!" Eric heard a voice to his left. Out of the shadows, two hedgehogs came out: Nolan, with brown fur, and Brian, with olive-green fur.

"Yo. I can't wait to get going. It's been..." Brian started to say, but suddenly, there was a loud shudder from above.

"What the..." Nolan said. Eric sprinted back to the elevator, and it went up as he activated it.

As he rose into his garage, he immediatly noticed a large robot fighting a blue hdegehog and a red echidna.

Again, Eric activated the elevator and went down into the basement, simply running off as it came down.

"Sonic and Knuckles need some help. Let's go and kill that guy for 'em!" Eric explained.

"We're done with the packing. We're ready to take off! Mighty, Fang, and Chase are already on the bridge waiting for us." Sonya said, running through the large hatch into the ship.

The young 15 year-old female hedgehog had deep purple fur, and was wearing a pair of blue jeans as well as a thick black vest without a shirt underneath it; though it was somewhat revealing, she was naturally very modest, so she could make it seem more appropriate. She also had a traditional set of _samurai_ armor for combat, but she very rarely wore it. She usually let her long purple hair flow freely without fashioning it.

"Alrighty, time to get this thang goin'!" Eric shouted in joy, and he ran into the ship, followed by Nolan and Brian.

Thanks to Eric's super speed, he was at the bridge in a flash.

Sure enough, Chase, Mighty, and Fang were all at their respective control booths.

Fang, as usual, had his custom sniper rifle leaned up next to him. Fang, deciding that Sega was for suckas, abandoned his useless corkgun, built his own custom sniper rifle, and regained his old name as Fang the Sniper, even though he also accepted his other name, Nack. The purple weasel had reunited with Eric simply because his little trip had the prospect of adventure and lots of riches once they completed their mission.

The bridge was fashioned similar to the bridge of the Blue Typhoon, except it was slightly smaller. There was a large glass window covering the bridge, giving a clear view of everything outside.

"Hey Eric! I'll open the hanger door!" Chase said. He was a short hedgehog with turquoise-blue fur; appropriate, considering he was only about 9-10 years old.

Chase pressed a small button near the front of his booth; above them, bright light shined through the ceiling as the entire ceiling opened up, providing a launch area.

The engines automatically activated, and the landing legs used for landing retracted as the mighty ship slowly ascended up and turned towards the scene of the fight.

...

Yep, I'm ending the chapter right here. Unlike the real Sonic X Episode 54, which has the first Metarex battle included, the end of the battle with the Metarex happens in the very beginning of the next Chapter.

See ya later, and for all of you who took the time to read this, thanks for all the good reviews! ;)


	3. Episode 55: H2, Ho!

Enjoy. There will be some quite obvious and some radically drastic changes, but I bet y'all will still like it.

...

**Episode 55: H2, Ho!**

"Eric?" Knuckles exclaimed as he saw the ship. The Metarex turned around to face the huge battleship that had just risen up.

_"Enemy sighted,"_ the Metarex said in its monotone voice, and several missiles spouted out of its chest, and fired in rows; almost 20 were streaking towards the Dreadnought.

However, everybody was suprised by several small green plasma beams that erupted from the shp and vaporized all the missiles in their trails.

_"Enemy engaging!"_

"Well, looks like we got some help!" Sonic said. The Metarex first turned and looked at Knuckles and Sonic, and then it looked towards the Dreadnought, which was still quite a ways away.

...

Chris and Tails were inside the Blue Typhoon trying to get it ready for launch.

"Hey Tails, there's a message here!" Chris said.

"Put it up on the main screen!" Tails ordered. A large screen unfolded over the glass dome, revealing a green hedgehog wearing a huge grin.

"Eric?" Tails and Chris said at the same time.

_"Yo dudes. There's a Metarex nearby that's trying to stop you. We were going on a little space trip too, so we simply decided to go out of our way and help y'all. We'll buy you some time and blow up the Metarex for you; you take Sonic and Knuckles and get out of here. We'll catch up."_ Eric said.

"What ship are you using?" Tails asked. Immediatly, the picture of the elegant dagger-shaped emerald-green battleship appeared. Tails and Chris were impressed; it was strangely beautiful to look at.

_"This beauty is called the Dreadnought. Now, enough talk, it's high time for you to take off and haul your ass out of here. Peace."_ Eric explained, with his signiture and trademark "Rock on!" hand gesture. The picture snapped off.

"Alright." Chris said, transmitting their signals to Sonic and Knuckles. "Sonic! Knuckles! Get back here. We're taking off. Eric will destroy that Metarex; we should get out of here."

...

Sonic and Knuckles sure got the message alright.

"Okay, we'll be right there." Sonic said. He instantly sprinted off in a flash.

"Hey Sonic, wait up!" Knuckles yelled, running after him. The Metarex ignored both of them, focusing on the Dreadnought.

_"Following Directive No. #1: Kill Ultimate Weapon!"_ the Metarex said, and started firing its lasers at the ship. However, they all rebounded off the shields and armour.

...

Sonic and Knuckles ran into the underground hanger, with the hatch open, and Amy, Cream, and Cosmo sitting down there and resting.

"Sonic!" Amy cried out. But this was no time for adoration.

"Guys, we're getting out of here. Eric will stay behind and destroy that Metarex. We gotta go and find the Chaos Emeralds as well as our own Planet Egg." Knuckles said.

"... Along with stopping Tsali as well as whoever he's working for." Cosmo added.

"Let's go to the bridge!" Sonic said, and sped up in a flash. Everybody else just let out a little sigh; like Tails said before, that was Sonic for ya.

...

The bridge of the Typhoon had a slanted, high shape, with various small control areas designed for the crew members to work with.

"Prepare for takeoff! Rerout energy to the engines." Tails announced, just as the two hedgehogs, the Seedrian, and the rabbit all came in.

"Got it. Powering engines. Knuckles is activating the Master Emerald so we can use its power as well." Chris replied. The ship suddenly shook with a rumble, and the loud sound of an engine roared over the bridge. The ship had lifted slightly off the ground, and was starting to tilt upward.

"Blue Typhoon, LAUNCH!" Tails shouted, and he thrust both of his moving control panels forward. The ship lurched up, and rock and dust splashed over the glass as it shot right through the ground up into the air.

As they went higher and higher, Cosmo, Cream, and Amy went over to have a look. Mobius was gorgeous from this high; landmasses and seas covered everything. However, they also watched from the air the nearby battle unfolding.

The Metarex and the Dreadnought were still at their duel, the Metarex jumping about desperately trying to dodge, and the Dreadnought firing many green hyperbeams at it that looked as if they had the potential to vaporize it in an instant if they hit.

The Blue Typhoon soon cleared the atmosphere, soaring into the infinate void of space, just as the crew thought they saw a tiny yellow dot where the fight between the Dreadnought and the Metarex robot was.

...

Tsali walked into his room of his hideout, on the remote edge of the galaxy. This was the place he used to rest, as well as contact his contracters. Its location was secret to almost all but his closest allies.

The room had a large desk with several supercomputers as well as a giant screen mounted on the wall. Tangled wires crisscrossed around the wall like a gigantic spiderweb.

Tsali went over to the desk and pressed a small button. The picture activated, and four screens came up; the picture was divided into four parts. The viewer snapped on, revealing three beings arguing amongst themselves.

Tsali knew that they were Black Doom, Beelzebub, and Astorath.

Beelzebub, clasping a rare purple Doma Emerald in his hand, was a large overweight purple wasp/fly hybrid with an small crown, small anthro eyes, and fluttering wings; he was the head of the Hell-based Intelligence and Reconassiance Department (IRD), and from his appearence and from mythology, he is also called the Lord of Flies. He was also known as "Mr. Fudgeicle" from his ravenous love of chocolate fudge, and he also was the Grand Admiral of the Demon Imperial Navy.

Astorath looked much more like a giant human than a Demon, although this was because he was the leader of the Hell Knight warrior caste. He wore no clothes, except for a loincloth over his private area, and there were two handheld gatling miniguns holstered on his back along with a slightly-torn cape. He had an enormously muscular frame, so strong and thick that it could actually block bullets. His small head had tiny, electric-yellow eyes staring out of his with an abnormally toothy, salivating mouth. He was the Kommander-in-Chief of the Demon Army.

Black Doom was a very tall, floating figure who heavily resembled the Devil except that Maledict had a totally different face and head, along with the fact the Doom had no legs, unlike the one that Christians often called "Satan." He had three small red eyes, and his form was adorned with Demon ornaments.

From the backgrounds behind them, Tsali could tell where they were; Black Doom was in the bridge of his heavily modified Demon transport ship, the DSS _Black Comet_, Beelzebub was in his CEO office in the secret IRD Headquarters far underneath the moon of Europa near Angel-controlled Earth, and Astorath himself appeared to be on some unknown planet, for he was against a rocky and pale background, probably on a plain of some type.

There were several Hell Knight soldiers behind him; even Tsali was impressed by there appearences. Huge drooling teeth, a gigantic skeleton, a height of what seemed like 3 meters, and gargantic muscles; those are what the Hell Knights boasted.

_"Who are the people that harboured Cosmo again? I know about Sonic, but I need his friends' names."_ Beelezebub said.

"_They are Miles Prower, Amy Rose, Cream the Rabbit, Chris Thorndyke, Shadow the Hedgehog, Dr. Ivo Robotnik, Rouge the Bat, and Knuckles the Echidna. They are a far greater danger then we realize. We must..."_ Black Doom said.

_Well, why don't we go fight dem! Why do we stand here idle?"_ Astorath yelled in his Hell Knight accent (sounding like a mix of Austrian and Russian), slamming his giant fist on the nearby console. Amazingly, it didn't shatter into pieces.

_"Calm down dude. You think you can defeat them? Your strength is your very weakness, Astorath. We need intelligence ...reconassiance... At least an experiment, for Altus's sake. After all, he did vanquish Mephiles, Iblis, Mammoth Mogul, and Ixis Naugus in the last few months, and in the case of Mogul and Naugus, several years ago. You're underestimating who we're up against."_ Beelzebub said.

_"Shuddup, bug mon! I'm not underestimating Sonic and his companions; **YOU** are overestimating dem."_ Astorath shouted angrily, using his signature name for Beelezebub, his type of rival. The so-named Lord of Flies muttered quietly that Astorath too had rocks for brains himself; after all, it was infamous how clumsy and dumb he often was.

Now was when Tsali had had enough.

"This retarded bickering is pointless," Tsali came in, "I'm here to get the Chaos Emeralds for the Devil. Have any of you confirmed their exact locations yet?"

_"No. We've been distracted by the Metarex rebellion. We are also busy trying to keep away the seemingly billions of organizations that want you dead, Tsali,"_ Black Doom replied, "_...I mean, seriously, in the past three days, we've had to hold off more than 30 different groups searching for you while you run your little merchant heist for the Lord. Of course, we all know what you're planning to do with those emeralds once you have them all."_

Tsali sighed; so what Maledict said before was an understatement. There weren't just _lots_ of groups; there were probably_ hundreds_ of them all simply for hunting down Tsali, including the Metarex themselves. And, of course, everybody _did _know what he wanted to do with them.

"I'm sorry I'm giving you all so much trouble. Argue if you want, Astorath and Beelzebub, but I'm focused on the Chaos Emeralds." Tsali replied with a grim voice.

_"Well, not just that, but we've also found that Maledict's initial waypoints to the Chaos Emeralds that he gave you were inaccurate; indeed, with all the factions and the Metarex keeping them in control, they're being moved around almost by the minute."_ Black Doom added.

Faulty intelligence, Tsali thought. What a wonderful day this was turning out to be. Faulty intelligence was very dangerous; it could lead to a trap, resulting in loss of life (not that life really mattered to Tsali) or valuble time.

"Damnit. We can't afford this. Or should I say, YOU can't afford this." Tsali said. After all, Tsali wasn't in it because he actually supported the Demons; he was only in it on Maledict's promise of both final revenge against the remaining Seedrians and getting his life back if he collected the 7 Chaos Emeralds. That was the only reason he was playing along with the Devil's plans.

_"You're right. We cannot settle for dis,"_ Astorath said, having calmed down.

Everybody was interupted, however, by the activation of the fourth screen, revealing a cloaked figure sitting on an elaborate red sci-fi throne. Barely any part of the figure could be seen, except for the reptilian legs covered in neon red-and-gold armour, and the small, humanlike claws poking from underneath the black cloak. There was also a huge red star inside a circle emblazoned on the front.

_"Tsk tsk tsk, Beelzebub and Astorath, always arguing. That's all you ever do. Yep, for the record, I was listening to the whole thing,"_ the figure said in a strangely calm and serene voice.

"Maledict? Why are you here?" Tsali asked.

_"I was about to contact you and tell you about my... well, accidentally faulty information. There is a large force near your hideout as we speak, Tsali. Not a Metarex, but still a faction hostile to you. It has one of the Chaos Emeralds,"_ Maledict replied.

"If what you say is true..." Tsali started to reply.

_"Why would it not be? Do you really believe in all that Christian 'father of lies' crap?"_ Maledict asked.

"No," Tsali replied after a pause.

_"Good. Oh, and Black Doom, didn't I order you to return to Hell immediately? I've been waiting for a while."_ Maledict said.

_"I will be back on Hell shortly, My Lord. ETA two hours."_ Doom said, and his screen shut off.

"In that case, I must go as well; with my enemies everywhere, I have no time to sit around." Tsali commented.

_"Well, fine. I have problems of my own with the Angel scum, so I also gotta leave,"_ Beelzebub replied, and his screen shut off.

_"Fine with me. Listen up, my brothers!..."_ Astorath said, turning around, and his screen shut off.

Now, only Maledict and Tsali were still on. Tsali was busy gathering his things, namely his black emerald now known to Sonic as the Dark Emerald.

_"Wait a sec, Tsali..."_ Maledict said.

"What?" Tsali asked. Beeping could be heard from behind the Devil.

_"The faction I told you about earlier is gone; it was ambushed and destroyed by one of my convoys and its emerald floated away to Planet Zeko. According to my scanners, the Blue Typhoon is headed towards Zeko as we speak. Get to Zeko, and get the Chaos Emerald. Do whatever you want with the Planet Egg; I just need that Chaos Emerald. If you encounter trouble, I have several robots on call for you to use,"_ Maledict informed.

"Got it. Moving out," Tsali responded, grabbing his things.

_"One last thing..."_ Maledict added.

"Yeah?" Tsali asked.

_"... Don't fail me,"_ Maledict said.

"I... I won't," Tsali replied after a seemingly long pause. The Ultimate Weapon's moniter shut off automatically.

Time to go, Tsali thought as he ran out the door; after 30 years of waiting, now was his chance to finally finish what he started.

...

Meanwhile, the Blue Typhoon was cruising through space, not encountering any resistence. But there was much talking going on inside the bridge.

"You detected one of the Chaos Emeralds?" Cream asked.

"Are you sure about this?" Amy added.

"Yes. There's no doubt about it. I was in the engine room a few minutes ago and I saw the Master Emerald glowing; it must've been a Chaos Emerald," Knuckles said.

"Tails, check if there's a planet nearby," Amy asked. Tails pressed a button, and a starmap appeared in front of them all.

"... There's one!" Chris exclaimed as he pointed to something on the star map.

"That's Planet Zeko," Cosmo explained.

"And, according to my guidebook, it's a barren rock!" Sonic added, holding a little magezine with the words "Galactic Navbook" on the front.

"Well, Tails, we're gonna land on Planet Zeko and find that Emerald! Let's go!" Amy shouted. Tails just rolled his eyebrows.

"Uhhh... _I'm _the one who's supposed to give the orders..." Tails muttered.

"Oh, sorry," Amy replied.

...

Soon enough, they came within view of the planet. However, there was something wrong; large bright plumes were coming up in random places over the atmosphere.

"What the... Put it up on the viewscreen!" Tails ordered. A large screen appeared and zoomed in to the chaos.

Several small cylinderical ships were crowded around the planet and firing at nothing in particular. That's when, out of nowhere, what looked like a bright-blue comet streaked everywhere in the blink of an eye. It sliced through the ships in single flybys, and they popped into smoky fireballs like balloons.

"Tsali..." Cosmo muttered softly. Apparently, she was familiar with this type of power.

"Wait, you say Tsali is here?" Amy asked, hearing her comment.

"Yes. That blue streak is Tsali," Cosmo said.

"Well, looks like that Tails look-a-like beat us to the punch," Knuckles said.

All the ships on the viewscreen had been destroyed; the blue streak went down, into Zeko's atmosphere.

"He's going to the planet. We have no time to waste. We gotta go down there and stop him," Sonic said. The ship, which had been moving forward, was now in the upper atmosphere, hot on Tsali's trail.

"Well, I'm not so sure you should be so excited; according to the sensors, there's lots of water here," Chris said.

"Wait, WHAT! Never mind what I said before, we can't land here!..." Sonic tried to plead frantically.

"Too bad," Knuckles said in reply with a smirk. The Blue Typhoon soared through the clouds and nosed towards the water. In barely a few seconds time, it plunged into the sea and slowed down to a stop.

...

Several sleek green submarines were set up on what would've normally been the takeoff runaway for the Typhoon's aircraft.

"There's gotta be a mistake! My guidebook says that this is a desert planet," Sonic said to Tails.

"Well, I don't know what to say, Sonic," Tails replied as he got into his submarine.

"... There's way too much water here! I HATE water...just so slow and immobilizing..." Sonic ruminated.

"Don't worry Sonic! I made a dual-cockpit submarine so we can travel together," Chris said, pointing to the one that looked like two subs welded together. Sonic quickly got in.

"Launch the subs!" Tails ordered. All the subs lunged forward off the Blue Typhoon, and splashed into the crystal-azure sea.

...

Soon enough, all of the subs were beached on a large, open coastal beach. The sun reflected brilliantly on the sand and water. Everybody was standing in a group along the beach.

"So, how will we find the Emerald?" Chris said.

"I know it's here somewhere..." Knuckles replied.

"How are you so sure?" Cosmo asked.

"Well Cosmo, I have a natural knack for finding stuff. Let me show you," Knuckles replied, attaching his Shovel Claws to his gloves.

"Oh," Cosmo simply said, not wanting anything further. Knuckles dived into the sand and started digging around, leaving trenches in his wake. Cosmo's eyes went wide as she spotted something; a gleaming blue gem next to a jagged rock.

"Found it!" Cosmo shouted, running towards the object she recognized as the Chaos Emerald. She picked it up in her hands and stared at it.

"The Chaos Emerald!" Amy and Cream shouted as they ran behind her to look at it

"Well, I wonder where that Planet Egg is..." Cosmo muttered.

However, just afterward, the ground started shaking, and the water levels started to retract on their own, revealing more and more land. It was as if the water was simply drying up.

"The Planet Egg... But who put it back?" Knuckles shouted in suprise, walking back over to the group and ceasing his digging.

"We did, foos!" A cheerful voice came from up on a dune ahead of them.

Surely, on top of the hill, was the green hedgehog they all knew as Eric.

"Eric? But how did you get here so fast!" Chris asked.

"Well, hey dudes, that's just one example of the power of the Dreadnought. We got here a lil' while ago; we already returned the Planet Egg, and apparently, you also just found the Chaos Emerald. Our ship is parked back a ways," Eric said.

"Oh, thank you. I'm sure the planet will thank you for your effort," Cosmo said. However, her comment was short-lived; without warning, a blue flash sped in front of her, and she, with a shocked look, noticed that the Chaos Emerald in her hands had vanished as if into thin air.

"Whoa, whaddup wit dat?" Eric said in a "gangsta" voice.

The blue flash stayed put nearby down a ways, and grew clearer as a black fox; Tsali.

"Heheheh, cocksuckers. Thanks a bunches, I owe you maybe...about 7?" Tsali taunted them with a rare smile, and disappeared.

"Oh no! Tsali got the Emerald! What have I done? If I only had been more careful..." Cosmo shouted in distress.

"Don't worry Cosmo, it wasn't your fault," Chris comforted her.

"But now...We don't have any, and he has 1, I think, unless he retrieved more on the way here..." Cosmo replied.

"Let's hope that he didn't," Amy said.

"Tsali likely isn't gonna leave yet; he probably will stay to find the Planet Egg too. Thus, we have a chance, not to defeat him, but to just get the Chaos Emerald. I bet the natives may slow him down," Tails explained.

"Well, anyway, I'll get going. We don't need the Emeralds," Eric said

"Wait, Eric, don't leave yet; go tell your crew to stay here. We will need your help," Sonic said.

"Alrighty dude. I'll be back," Eric said, and sped away in a green blur.

"We don't have much time. I have a plan!" Chris said, and everybody gathered in a group to discuss the plan.

...

The next Episode will be almost identical to the real one, unlike this Episode.


	4. Episode 56: The First Chaos Emerald

**Episode 56: The First Chaos Emerald**

"You have no clue how grateful we are to you, for returning our Planet Egg and saving our planet," the short-statured chieftain of the natives said to Eric. He and his friends had gone to the captial city to accept the native's thanks for getting back the Planet Egg. Crowds had gathered on the sides of the road.

"And as such, to do our best in your honour, we shall hold a festival; a parade, music, dancing, and a feast!" Eric, Brian, and Nolan licked their lips in anticipation. Several large ships, with huge trampolines on them, came coming down the road.

"Whoa, dude, I can't wait for this stuff," Eric said.

"Ahaha, it's been a while since I had something special!" Fang said, checking his sniper rifle and slinging it over his back

"Sounds like fun!" Mighty said to Chase.

"... Why do I have a stangely bad feeling about this?" Sonya asked to no one in particular.

"Look behind you!" the chieftain said. Eric and the others saw the ships right in front of them as music started and everybody was dancing in celebration.

"Wow, nice," Eric said, but that's when he was picked up by a nearby native.

"One, two, three!" the native said, and the man tossed Eric up onto the ship, where he was bounced by the huge trampoline.

"Everybody now, toss them up!" The chief called out, standing on one of the ships. All of Eric's friends and companions were tossed up one by one, and they were being bounced around on the ship.

"Why are they doing this?" Mighty shouted in the air.

"I dunno!" Eric explained as he was also in the air.

"This is our way of honouring our heroes!" the chief explained.

However, as they were bouncing, Sonic and his own friends came through the crowd and walked alongside the ships as they moved.

"Hello everybody!" Cosmo smiled and called out.

"Hey there Cosmo," Eric said in the air, and then he fell and was bounced up again, "How ya doing?"

"Fine." Amy spole for her.

"Well, we're trying to find Tsali, and are trying not to waste our time partying with the natives." Knuckles said.

"Actually, that looks like fun," Cream said, with the reinforcement of "Chao!" from Cheese.

"But why are they bouncing you like that?" Chris asked.

"It's for getting their Planet Egg back!" Nolan said as he sailed in the air.

"It's a token of their thanks," Eric said.

"Well, I'm thanked enough!" Chase shouted out as he flipped wildly in the air from another ship.

"Uggh... I can't take so much more of this," Sonya said nauseously, desperately trying to keep her vest from flying off.

As everyone walked by, a depressed look swept Cosmo's face. "What's wrong?" Cream asked.

"It's just...I feel so guilty for losing the Chaos Emerald to Tsali," Cosmo replied.

"It wasn't your fault, Cosmo. Tsali just manged to catch us off-guard. That damn two-tailed bastard... If he tries to attack you again, I'll rip him apart myself!" Knuckles vowed.

"... Thank you Knuckles," Cosmo thanked Knuckles.

"Hey, you down there, friends of the heroes, let us honour you too! TOSS THEM HERE!" The chief said, and several people grabbed Amy, Cream, Cosmo, Sonic, Chris, and Tails. Within moments, they all were being bounced up and down like yo-yos from the trampolines as crowds danced around them.

Unknown to them, however, a small probe droid was watching the whole thing from afar...

Also unknown to them was a familiar black fox who was also watching everything. Tsali had just stolen the Chaos Emerald, and had eluded their pursuit of Cosmo and her friends.

"Looks like they're celebrating with the natives..." Tsali muttered with a chuckle, "I have an idea..."

...

Back a ways from the city, a familiar tall purple spacecraft stuck out of the sand, emblazoned with the familiar head symbol of its genius and villianous owner, Dr. Eggman.

"Heheheheh..." Robotnik chuckled inside the bridge of the ship as he watched the parade through the monitor, "It was kind for Sonic to bring me the Chaos Emerald. So, how shall I get it away from them...?" He started to think hard. While he wasn't looking, Becoe slid over to Decoe.

"Are you sure Sonic even _has_ the Chaos Emerald?" Becoe whispered.

"I dunno. I heard that black fox guy who came to our planet took it from them earlier," Decoe responded.

"But how would he end up way out here so quickly?" Bokkun came in.

"Well, I even heard that very same black fox who beat Super Sonic in a one-on-one fight," Decoe added.

"Whoa! Nobody has beaten Sonic in his Super form before," Bokkun said.

"Oh, would you just shut up already!" Eggman yelled at them. The three helper robots froze.

"But Doctor, we don't think Sonic even _has_ the Emerald!" Becoe said.

"What do you mean?" Robotnik asked.

"I heard that black fox that came to our planet and defeated Super Sonic is here and stole the Emerald from Cosmo," Decoe explained.

"What? That Tsali guy? That was the guy who actually defeated Super Sonic?" Robotnik asked. This was all news to him.

"Yes, and he's here, too!" Bokkun said.

"Well... In that case... I just got an idea," Robotnik said.

"What is it?" All three robots asked.

"... I will meet Tsali and try to negotiate some type of deal between us; he gives the Chaos Emerald, I give him whatever he wants," Egman explained.

"But what if you can't really get what Tsali wants, or what if he's unwilling to negotiate?" Becoe asked.

"Then we'll just take it from him by force," Robotnik said proudly.

**"WHAT?" **All three robots shouted. "If Tsali defeated Super Sonic, he'll kill you in a flash!" Decoe yelled.

"That's why I'm hoping that the negotiations will work," Eggman said, "Bokkun, find Tsali and send him a message, I want to meet him."

"Roger!" Bokkun said, taking out one of his signature bomb-infused portable TVs and leaving the bridge via the elevator.

...

Tsali was sitting and watching the parade from afar when he heard a noise coming towards him. He looked up at the sound; a small blue figure was flying towards him with a small TV in hand.

"Hey, Tsali!" The blue humanoid said in a high-pitched voice.

"Who the hell are you?" Tsali asked threateningly.

"I'm Bokkun, Eggman's Messenger Robo! The Doctor has a proposition for you." Bokkun said, holding up his TV and turning it on. Robotnik's face appeared on the console.

"Greetings, Tsali! I am Dr. Ivo Robotnik. I have heard about your strengths; indeed, it is very impressive that you defeated Sonic. I am his enemy too, so, I have a proposition; you give me your Chaos Emerald, and I'll give you whatever you want!" Robotnik proposed. Tsali already knew his ugly mug; Maledict had already briefed him about Eggman as well as all of Cosmo's friends.

"You dumbass! You can't give me what I want. You don't even know..." Tsali retorted.

"Yes I do. You want Cosmo, don't you?" Eggman said. Tsali froze; the Doctor really DID know about him. However, that's when he also got an idea; if he let Eggman borrow the Chaos Emerald and lure Cosmo and friends to him, Tsali would be able to sweep down and cut them to pieces in a flash, and then, Cosmo would finally be his.

However, if he secretly "gave" the Chaos Emerald the Sonic and his friends, and he initiated a skirmish between Eggman and Sonic, he could both watch a good battle and have enough time to call in support and finish the job.

"You really know...?" Tsali asked, pretending to be shocked.

"Yes, Tsali. So, whaddya say?" Eggman asked. Tsali pretended to be deep in thought; he was already formulating his plan.

"Sure," Tsali said after a pause. Eggman and his robots looked very surpised, "Really?"

"Yep. Where will you meet me?" Tsali asked.

"On the outskirts of the capital," Eggman replied.

"I'll see you there, then. Oh, and one last thing, Robotnik..." Tsali said with his trademark cruel smile.

"What?" Eggman asked. Tsali gave a deeply disturbing psychotic smile.

"... Lord Maledict sends his regards!" Tsali shouted, punching the TV lightly and yet shattering it into pieces. Bokkun jumped back in fear.

"Now, go away," Tsali shoved Bokkun off.

"OK, bye!" Bokkun shouted, and flew away.

Eggman, back at his ship, was hit hard by Tsali's last message; the Devil was on to his actions, now that he realized how careless he was in dealing with Sonic.

Robotnik had not told anybody why he had such a hatred of Sonic, but he wanted to kill Sonic for all these years only because of his sworn duty to Maledict, his master and the lord of villians. Of course, he knew how patient the Devil was, but now, he saw that Satan - despite the famous fact that Maledict notoriously hated his Satan nickname - really _could_ run out of patience with his subjects.

And if he lost his patience and went crazy, who knows what he would do. Probably break stuff... meaning, kill people. Not just that, but from his last sentence, it was obvious Tsali also had been contracted by Maledict too for some reason.

_Did Maledict send him to hunt me down? _Eggman thought fearfully.

He also remembered the Metarex and their statuses, and it was obvious that they were also somehow connected to Maledict. However, that didn't explain why Maledict was using Tsali and the Metarex against each other and letting each other fight without stepping in and dealing with them both in the traditional Demon fashion, though.

But that was a mystery for another day.

"Time to go," Eggman said, preparing his Egg Driver for departure from the Crimson Egg.

Tsali put his "Plan B" into motion. He leaped up, activating his hovershoes, and sailed into the sky. Using his sensors, he instantly pinpointed Sonic and his friends, who by now were resting at a spot not too far from Tsali himself.

Flying over them, Tsali deliberately dropped the Chaos Emerald, and it plunged down to the ground.

Simultaneously, his movement and radar sensors detected a flying machine coming toward his position. Using his powers, Tsali remotely jammed the Crimson Egg's flight mechanism.

_That'll slow the Doctor down. And who knows, maybe this plan may work,_ Tsali thought.

...

"So, how will we be able to find Tsali?" Chris asked. He and his friends, along with Eric and his own group, had gathered out in the outskirts of the captial to rest.

"I don't know. Tsali is extremely fast and know his way about, which makes tracking him almost impossible," Cosmo said, but suddenly, she felt something thick land on her head. She checked her hair, and found what she had lost to Tsali before; the Chaos Emerald!

"Hey, look at that! It's the Chaos Emerald!" Cream exclaimed.

"But... where did that come from? I thought Tsali took it." Amy wondered aloud.

"Great, now we can leave," Knuckles said.

"No we can't, not until we stop Tsali from getting the Planet Egg," Cosmo said.

"Yah yah yah, all that 'OMG Tsali will destroy everything' crap, we know," Eric said.

Sonya scowled at him, "Don't say mean things like that."

"I actually have to doubt Tsali is gonna go out of his way to get it," Tails said.

"Well, while you guys debate, I'm going for a walk," Knuckles said, and walked away.

...

Knuckles was walking in the desert near the city. The air was hot and filled with sand particles, and the sun beamed down without any clouds to block it.

That's when he heard the noise of an engine above him, and he looked up; the Egg Driver, wobbling madly, was slowly descending, and finally crashed to the ground nearby with a _thud_.

Knuckles, wanting to check it out, ran towards the crash; Eggman was sprawled out in the cockpit.

"Eggman!" Knuckles exclaimed.

"Ah, Knuckles, great to see you again!" Robotnik said with a tint of fear.

"What are you doing here?" Knuckles asked. At that moment, Eggman got an idea. He pulled out a hankerchef and started crying.

"What's wrong?" Knuckles asked sympathetically.

"... I... I'm trapped here! My ship ran out of power and crashed-landed on this desolate planet! I only wanted to get off this planet, and then I would start a new life, one of peace! But now, I guess that'll never happen, unless I find a Chaos Emerald! Please, Knuckles! I don't want to spend the rest of my life in this deserthole!" Eggman pleaded, acting the best he could,

"It's my fault! I was so carried away with taking over the Universe! I was evil, and greedy! I wanted galaxies all to myself, but now, if I don't get off of here, I won't carry out another evil plan, I swear! If only I had a Chaos Emerald so I could leave and start a new life..."

Knuckles was moved by Eggman's plight. "Hey hey, just clam down. I'll help you get an Emerald."

"You really would?"

"Of course," Knuckles replied.

"Oh thank you! I know I can always trust you!" Eggman said, still acting. A small smirk came to his face; that was easier than he was expecting.

...

"Wait, what? Eggman wants the Chaos Emerald?" Sonic asked asked. Knuckles was trying to convince them of Eggman's plight.

"Yep. He says that if he has it, when he gets off this planet, he'll renounce his evil ways," Knuckles replied. Mighty, Tails, and Chris gave a sorry smile and both Sonic and Sonya sighed. Fang simply ignored them; Eric guffawed like it was a great joke.

"We've seen that before," Tails said. Mighty and Chase also chuckled.

"He's right, man," Mighty added. Knuckles just glared at him.

"Eggman won't renounce his ways. That's a given," Chase said.

"And yet, through all that, he somehow manages to trick you into believing him," Sonya said. Knuckles glared even harder.

"Well, I didn't need your permission!" Knuckles yelled, and walked towards Cosmo, "I'm the one who found this, so I can do what I want with it!" Knuckles plucked the Chaos Emerald from a surprised Cosmo's grasp and walking away.

Eric sighed, and using his speed, rushed in front of Knuckles. "Sorry dude, but I can't let ya."

"Well, you'll just have to fight me to stop me!" Knuckles taunted.

Eric grinned. "Yah, I know. I've always wanted a taste of your fighting skills," He accepted Knuckle's challenge.

"Wait, Eric! Maybe I should do this." Sonic called over.

"It's fine, I'll take care of this one." Eric said. Knuckles walked to a nearby rock and put the Chaos Emerald down. Both of the combatents got into position.

"You won't stop me Eric!" Knuckles yelled.

"Come on, piece o' poultry!" Eric shouted his trademark insult, which was simply an original way of calling someone "chicken", and both of them began their duel with flying punches.

"Wait, WAIT!" Cosmo tried to stop them, but to no avail. She turned around; everyone else just seemed to be talking, "Hey!"

"Hey Fang, you wanna set up a target and have a shooting contest?" Mighty asked. Fang nodded in affirmation.

"Do these panties make my butt look big?" Amy asked to Cream, who responded with "No, it looks fine, Amy." Sonya also replied; "Nah, it's alright."

"Excuse me, but shouldn't we try to stop Eric and Knuckles?" Cosmo asked.

"This is how Sonic and Eric and Knuckles work their problems out. It'll be okay," Tails said.

"Normally, I'm the one who fights Knuckles, but this time, Eric took it off my hands," Sonic said.

"They just fight until they get tired. No biggie," Amy said. But Cosmo seemed unfazed.

"But... how can you say that? We can't fight Tsali if we're fighting each other" She shouted at them. During that, Eric and Knuckles were fighting the whole way with flashy jump attacks and speed punches that made boxing look like child's play.

"I just can't take this anymore!" Cosmo yelled, and charged towards them, "Stop it right now!" However, a close-up attack sent a hurdle of stones raining down on her.

"Hey Cosmo, I wouldn't get that close if I were you!" Amy suggested. "They can get pretty rough."

The dual between Eric and Knuckles temporarily came to a halt as both stopped to rest. However, they were interrupted by a low rumbling beneath Cosmo a ways away with everybody else.

Out of nowhere, the ground under Cosmo shot up, and a giant multicoloured battlemech featuring Eggman's symbol rose up, grabbing Cosmo in its gigantic metal hand. Inside the cockpit was Decoe, Becoe, Bokkun, and Eggman.

"What the..." Eric said, as he and Knuckles ceased their fight rushed to the scene.

"Hey, everybody!" Decoe said.

"Eggman!" Everybody shouted.

"Heheheh, hey kids! Playtime is over. Give me your Chaos Emerald, or I'll kill her with my mighty iron fist, and I mean it, too!" Eggman said, tightening the robot's grip on Cosmo.

"Let her go, Eggman!" Tails shouted.

However, at that moment, another rumbling appeared, this time underneath the rock with the Emerald. Out of the ground, a giant green Metarex frog appeared and swallowed up the Emerald with its metal tongue.

_"Chaos Emerald has been captured,"_ it said with a higher voice than most Metarex. _"Tsali Detected!"_

"It's a Metarex!" Chris shouted.

"Hey, give me back MY Emerald, you amphibion!" Eggman shouted, and his robot walked forward, dropping Cosmo in the process.

Knuckles caught her as she fell. "You okay?" He asked.

"Don't worry about me, get the Chaos Emerald!" Cosmo said.

Both the Metarex and Eggman prepared to charge each other, and Robotnik's mech grabbed onto the frog.

"Activate drill!" Eggman said, and the mech's hand turned into a drill. However, it did not penetrate the Metarex's armour.

Once more, the ground shook, this time dislodging both the Metarex and Egman's mech from their dual. This time, however, the shaking was caused by a blue object that had crashed into the ground a an extremely high speed, leaving a giant crater behind

At that moment, Tsali appeared on the lip of the crater. "Hahaha, look what I got!"

"Tsali!" Cosmo shouted.

"You traitorous fox! Attack!" Eggman ordered.

However, Tsali leaped several dozen feet in the air, a glowing blue sphere of energy in his right hand. **"CHAOS BLAST!" **A giant shunt of Dark Chaos Energy instantly send Eggman's mech and its crew flying off into the distance, crashing into a nearby mesa and kicking up a cloud of dust.

"Daaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaamn..." Eric said.

"Hahah, dumbass Doctor. Now for all of you.," Tsali said, but he was interrupted when he sensed something behind him; a white-colored Chaos attack. The fox teleported; a massive explosion followed.

"Daaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaamn..." Eric said once again, this time with Mighty as well.

Everybody noticed a figure with a brown cloak in the cloud of dust from the blast, the figure's hood hiding his face. The figure walked over and picked up the Chaos Emerald. The only part of the figure that could be seen was a single white fox tail with a white aura around it poking under the cloak and the figure's hands, which had claw blades on them and also had an aura around them.

"Hey, who are you?" Sonic asked the cloaked figure. The relatively tall figure turned around slightly.

"Oh hey, it's Sonic the Hedgehog, correct?" The figure asked in a mature voice

"Yes, but who are you?" Tails asked. The figure chuckled, "You know, Miles Prower, you remind me of me..."

"What?" Amy asked. Tsali also appeared from the side.

"Trinity, you traitorous bastard, give me back my Emerald!" Tsali shouted. Nobody knew who Tsali was talking about by the name "Trinity".

"Sorry Tsali, but I just cannot give them to you and to the Demon Empire. Life doesn't work that way," the figure said. "Anyway, I must leave. I am afraid I will have to take your Emerald for safekeeping, Sonic. Sorry. If you wish to find me, go to Planet Breezy. I shall be waiting for you at the Ice Cave. Goodbye, everybody, and I wish you well,"

The figure took out what looked like a shimmering white Chaos Emerald. "CHAOS CONTROL!" The figure shouted, and the figure vanished in a white flash.

Tsali just momentarily stared at Sonic, and glared. "Arrrggh...This isn't the end, Cosmo! And don't think I've forgotten about you two hedgehogs and all of you!" Tsali yelled, taking out his black emerald. "CHAOS CONTROL!" Tsali also disappeared in a blue flash.

"Hey, who was that cloaked guy?" Sonya asked.

"I dunno, but he didn't seem like he wanted to hurt us," Cream said.

"But he still stole our Chaos Emerald!" Amy said.

"At least Tsali didn't get it," Cosmo commented greatfully.

"Hey, uh, guys?" Knuckles interrupted. All eyes were immediately on him.

"Yeah?" Fang asked.

"I'm sorry for believing Eggman. I hate it when I get tricked..." Knuckles apolagized.

"Oh, we're used to it. Don't worry, you just made a bad call," Eric said, even though he was the one who fought Knuckles.

"Eggman knows he tricked you once, and he did it again," Chris said, making Knuckles angry.

"I always see good in you, Knuckles, you have a very kind heart, because I know you still will devote yourself to helping the weak and powerless," Cosmo said.

"...Well, thanks for seeing it that way, Cosmo," Knuckles said.

"That's cool and all, Knuckles, but that still doesn't mean you're not a stupid motherfucker!" Sonic taunted.

"I'm... gonna..." Knuckles went over the top as everyone started laughing.

"Well, let's go to Planet Breezy and find that Chaos Emerald! Before Tsali gets there!" Tails suggested. Everyone else stopped laughing and nodded in agreement.

...

Tsali, up in the atmosphere, flew away from Zeko in defeat. Not only had he found that the Planet Egg was put back, but he also lost the Chaos Emerald in the process.

He took out his COM link, deciding to inform his contractors of this.

"Black Blur to Demon Lord, the Chaos Emerald has been taken off world to Planet Breezy. Give me warp coordinates for Breezy," Tsali said through it.

_"You lost the Chaos Emerald? Damn... Anyway, copy that, sending coordinates,"_ the voice replied, and Planet Breezy's location was instantly uploaded directly to Tsali's brain navigation systems.

"Thank you. Black Blur, over and out," Tsali said, deactivating his comlink.

He lost one Chaos Emerald; he wouldn't lose the rest.


	5. Episode 57: Who is Trinity?

FINALLY found the time to get this done. Enjoy.

...

**Episode 57: Who is Trinity?**

"I just created a machine that can locate the Chaos Emeralds. It'll make our search easier," Chris said, introducing his machine, "However, it needs a Chaos Emerald to power it... and we don't have any."

"Hey guys!! The Master Emerald was reacting to something!" Knuckles ran into the bridge frantically, "It MUST be a Chaos Emerald, and after I pinpointed its location, sure enough, it's leading us straight to Planet Breezy, where that cloaked guy we saw on Zeko said it would be."

"Great. We have our coordinates. Warpspace drive activate... NOW!" Amy yelled as the dot representing a Chaos Emerald appeared. Tails just sighed.

"Ahem, the CAPTAIN should be giving the orders," Tails muttered.

However, Amy was caught off from her reply when shimmering rainbow light blinded everyone as their ship went into Warpspace.

...

Meanwhile, on the icy and snowy surface of Planet Breezy, the main base of the Metarex, known as the Ice Palace, was in shambles. Alerts were going off everywhere in the base, and troops were looking for the intruder that had been reported sneaking through the base.

And sure enough, that intruder was Tsali.

Tsali ran into the central control room. The walls were entirely made of ice, and various screens and panels lined the room. But in the center was Tsali's prize.

In the center, inside a thick ice pillar, was the red Chaos Emerald, the one he had come for. On stopping in on his hideout just after leaving Zeko, his scanners had detected TWO Chaos Emeralds on Breezy, one held by the Metarex, one held by Trinity.

He didn't bother going ahead and getting the one from Trinity. He decided to level the playing field somewhat by literally "giving" Cosmo a Chaos Emerald, so then later, when his next major plan was activated, he would have an easier time getting them all in one place.

But this was also a perfect time to put his all-new idea into motion; recently, Tsali had been at work on fake Chaos Emeralds, imbued by the negative dark power of Tsali's Dark Emerald and manufactured by the Demon Empire. He intended to use them to throw off both Cosmo and the Metarex.

Using his Demon alloy-infused muscles, Tsali managed to break a wide enough hole so he could reach for the Chaos Emerald, which glowed in his hand.

As soon as he held the Chaos Emerald, Tsali took out the fake red Emerald he had been working on and slipped it inside, grinning as he thought about how stealthy he was, despite the fact that he had alerted the whole base on the way in.

Using a nearby freezing mechanism, Tsali closed the hole in the ice pillar. Nobody would even suspect he was there.

"Chaos Control!" Tsali shouted, and he vanished in a flash of blue light.

...

Meanwhile, in another part of space, the tall purple spacecraft known as the Crimson Egg pursued the Blue Typhoon.

"Heheheheh...With my ship tracker that I attatched to the ship, no matter where Tails goes, I will be right behind him," Eggman said in the central seat of the bridge, "Activate Egg Drive!!"

"Aye aye, Robotnik," Decoe said. Bokkun pulled a nearby lever, activating the drive. Motes of yellows dots swirled around it as a giant cosmic oval almost identical to a giant egg engulfed the ship, and when it "cracked", the ship had been teleported away.

...

The Blue Typhoon appeared over the blue-and-white planet known as Breezy in a shimmer of rainbow illumination. As the detection screen appeared, however, another flashing dot, indicating another Chaos Emerald, appeared.

"What the... Another Chaos Emerald?" Chris asked.

"Well, that actually may be good, but the whole planet seems to be locked in an endless ice age," Amy said.

"Do you think that Tsali or the Metarex have already taken the Planet Egg?" Cosmo asked.

"That maybe explains the strange climate," Tails said. Several pictures of the surface came on the screen; the ground was covered with a white layer of snow, several trees lay frozen, and wind constantly swept over the surface.

"Everything looks so cold and lifeless..." Cosmo commented.

"Don't worry, we'll get the Emeralds and the Planet Egg back. You ready Sonic?" Chris asked.

"Oh yeah!" Sonic replied with a thumbs-up.

...

The Blue Typhoon shook as the ship descended through the dark-blue sky. But that's when a flying red dinosaur-like robot appeared just above it. In a flash, the robot swiped its giant, spike ball-tipped tail, whacking it into the ship. The ship shook even more violently.

"What the heck is that, Chris?" Amy asked.

_"Tsali Z'Charon spotted! Exterminate!"_ A very loud robot voice came from a loudspeaker in the machine's head as it purused the Typhoon.

"It's a Metarex robot. Firing missiles!" Chris said.

As the Blue Typhoon fired its missiles, the dino Metarex also launched several missiles from two pods on its body. Each salvo crisscrossed each other in the air. The Blue Typhoon's missiles slammed into the Metarex, and it shattered into a ball of fire and smoke.

But on the other hand, the Metarex's missiles streaked towards the ship. Most of them missed, but two managed to hit two of the Typhoon's engines. The inside of the bridge flashed red as an alarm wailed through the ship, and the bridge shook even more violently.

"Okay guys, I gotta land this thing!!" Tails shouted as the Typhoon dove towards the snow. The whole ship shuddered as it hit the ground and skidded to a slow halt, leaving a trench of snow in its wake.

"Knuckles, damage report!" Tails asked.

"Most of the systems still work, but engines 1 and 3 have been damaged. They'll need repairing if we're ever gonna take off," Knuckles replied.

"Damn..." Tails swore.

"Well... We still gotta find those Chaos Emeralds. Me, Knuckles, Chris, and Cosmo will go get the Chaos Emerald, while Tails, Amy, and Cream go to the Ice Cave to find that Trinity guy and get that other Chaos Emerald," Sonic suggested.

"Right. I'll get the X Tornado ready, just in case," Tails said.

...

"With my tracking system, I know that Sonic is somewhere on this planet. Which means that rude black fox or those nasty robots will be trying to kill him and his friends," Eggman said.

"Tsali and the Metarex?" Becoe asked.

"Yes, and it's likely that one of them will also try to attack us as well. So, in order to prevent this, we'll have to hide the ship," Robotnik said, throwing two shovels to Decoe and Becoe, "Use these and make sure the ship can't be seen! I want it hunkered down by nightfall!!"

"Yes doctor," both of the droids said apathetically.

Unbeknownst to them, Rouge had been listening to the whole thing from downstairs. And she had an idea.

...

"Well... At least Rouge isn't here..." Bokkun said as he flew through the halls of the spaceship.

"What do you mean by that?" A female voice said, and stepped out of the shadows.

"R-R-Rouge?!" Bokkun yelled.

"Hey there little guy. I hope you're uptight, because I got another TINY little favour I need you to handle," Rouge said, as she took out a heart-shaped locket.

Bokkun gasped; that locket held a picture of the one he had a crush on, and he didn't dare anybody else find out. As long as Rouge had it, he was at her mercy.

"Ohhh... Fine," Bokkun said.

...

As the exit hatch of the Blue Typhoon opened up, Sonic, Knuckles, and Cosmo were blasted by howling winds. Knuckles and Sonic stepped back, while Cosmo nearly fell over in suprise.

Chris, clad in a heay jacket and boots, also walked out, unfazed by the winds and the cold.

"Well, what are we waiting for, I'm ready for this!" Sonic said, winking at Cosmo, and he jumped off the ship.

"Wait, Sonic, I think the snow may be..." Chris said, just as Sonic landed in a clump of snow, "...Deep. But don't worry, I got some snow shoes," Sonic, from below, muttered something incoherently, for his mouth was stuffed with snow.

...

A few minutes later, the group was standing by a small clump of frozen trees. Cosmo had grabbed the tree and was close to it.

"What the heck are you doing?" Knuckles asked.

"I'm listening," Cosmo said.

"To what?" Sonic asked.

"The tree. I can hear the life forces of plants," Cosmo explained, then listened hard. Her expression turned sad. "The tree is dead. I knew we were too late."

"The Planet Egg's capture must've caused all this," Chris said.

"But if the Metarex had already stolen it, there'd be no reason for them to hang around. The Planet Egg must still be around here," Sonic said.

"If that's true, then we should find it," Cosmo suggested.

"No way, we have no time," Knuckles said.

"If we find it, this planet might still have a chance to survive. I know we came here for the Chaos Emeralds, but shouldn't we also save the planet as well?" Cosmo pleaded.

"Nope," Knuckles replied bluntly.

"What do ya say, Sonic?" Chris asked.

"Well, if we look for the Planet Egg, we might come across the Emerald as well, and the others are looking for that 'Trinity' guy as we speak, but the Blue Typhoon has been damaged. However, we could use the X Tornado..." Sonic said.

"Good idea. Let's do it," Chris replied.

"Thank you both. This planet will be so grateful to..." Cosmo started to say.

"Alright, just shut up and let's go!" Knuckles interrupted grumpily.

...

Later, the yellow plane known as the X-Tornado took off with a roar from the Blue Typhoon, with Chris and Cosmo in the seats and Sonic and Knuckles riding on the wings.

However, unknownst to them, they were being watched by a tiny probe droid behind them.

Several pictures of the Tornado came to the screens inside the control room of the Metarex base. The protectorate of the base, a tall Metarex made up of ice with a single blue eye, was watching.

_"Ah, Tsali Z'Charon has come on that ship! Prepare for battle!"_ The ice Metarex ordered. The other smaller red machines all scattered and took up positions outside the base.

...

"There they are!!" Chris said. Sure enough, in the sky in front of the plane, was a group of flying Metarex in attack positions. "Let's get 'em!" A tiny yellow ring streaked from the front of the plane.

"Got it!!" Sonic jumped off and grabbed it. In midair, he curled up into a spindash and slammed into several Metarex, who disappeared in clumps of smoke. Simultaneously, Knuckles also jumped, and using an array of midair attacks, he took down several. Also, Chris fired the lasers on the plane, instantly vaporizing the others. The few that remained flew away and fled the scene.

"Don't let them get away, Chris!" Sonic warned as he and Knuckles landed back on the Tornado's wings.

"I won't!" Chris replied, and pursued the enemy.

...

As Eggman and his robots were sitting tight in their ship, they saw the small blue robot walk in, dragging a large sled behind him.

"Hey Bokkun!" Decoe said.

"Hey guys, I brought you some sake! I thought you were hungry, so I went to the cargo hold and got some," Bokkun said.

"Why thank you, I'm starvin'!" Eggman said as he and the other robots started to unload the packages of food.

...

"So, this is where the signal is coming from? This is the Ice Cave that guy on Zeko was talking about?" Amy asked. She, Tails, and Cream had all ventured to find the other Chaos Emerald, the one stolen by "Trinity", and their search and led them to the entrance of the Ice Cave. All three of the heroes were standing in front of its large, well-lit, imposing entrance.

"Yep, there is no doubt. This is the Ice Cave. Let's go find that Chaos Emerald!" Tails replied, and all three ran into the cave.

Amazingly, the cave was warmer than outside. Glittering icicles hanged from the ceiling in droves, and the icy walls reflected light brilliantly throughout the cavern. The heroes's footsteps echoed as they slowly trodded through the unknown.

"It's so big and pretty. What is this place?" Cream asked.

"It's the Ice Cave, where that cloaked guy said he would meet us back on Planet Zeko after he stole the Chaos Emerald from both us and Tsali," Tails said. He noticed that there were several lanterns hanging from the icy ceiling, a sign somebody might be in there.

In front of everybody was a large staircase carved from ice, leading far down into the ground. The three heroes all stepped liberally down the steps, in case of anything. But Tails felt a nagging feeling, like something was ahead.

"Hold on..." Tails said as he picked up and ice piece and threw it forward. Sure enough, out of nowhere, a storm of loose icicles crashed down to the ground just in front of them like a hail of arrows.

"Whoa... Glad we weren't under that. Let's get going," Amy said. Everyone continued a little faster.

Soon enough,the finally found what Tails suspected to be the main room; a gigantic circular cavern. The massive ice walls formed the room like a sphere, while, oddly, large pieces of wood seemed to be lodged into the ice. There was a circular ring of thick ice in the air above another circular floor of rock.

_"Two-tailed fox detected!! Kill Ultimate Weapon!!"_ A loud voice said, and from the bottom level, several Metarex jumped up, ready to fight.

"Metarex!!" Tails said. However, suddenly, they all turned white, and shuddered like they were cold. Without warning, they were psychically hurled into the walls, exploding into bits.

Just behind the Metarex was the same cloaked figure they had saw on Zeko. The figure still had the brown cloak on, masking his body.

"It's you!!" Amy said.

"Hello. I'm glad you came," the figure said, holding his unusual white Emerald along with the Chaos Emerald they were looking for.

"Just who are you, and why did you take the Chaos Emerald?" Tails asked.

"So, you came all the way out here just for the Chaos Emerald? You really want those, huh?" The figure said.

"Yes. We need them to fight Tsali the Ultimate Weapon," Cream asked.

"I see," the figure said, and without warning, he threw off his cloak, which went off the circular upper level and landed on the stone ground.

All three of them gasped; the figure was a fox, looking a bit similar to Tails, but actually a bit taller than Amy and only having one tail. His fur was silvery-white. He was obviously very strong, because his arm, leg, and chest muscles were actually visible on his body, albiet barely. He was wearing a white headband with an unusual symbol on it, along with a gold necklace on his neck. Two knuckleduster clawblades, similar to Knuckle's Shovel Claws except white-coloured, sharper, and less thick, were attached to his gloves.

"I am Prince Trinity. I was indeed the one who took the Chaos Emerald on Zeko not too long ago," the fox said.

"So... What? Do you live here?" Amy asked.

"Yes. My planet was annihilated by the Demon Empire, and I fled out here and went into exile on this tumultuous planet. I hollowed out this whole cave as my home," Trinity explained.

"Your planet was destroyed by the _what_?" Tails asked.

"The Demon Empire, led by its eternal and tyrannical leader, Lord Maledict the Devil. He is the lord of all villians and is totally immortal. Indeed, he is the one who controls your nemesis, Doctor Robotnik, and I think he was also originally the leader of the Metarex, but I'm not sure," Trinity explained.

"The _leader_ of the Metarex?" Tails asked.

"Well, technically, it is actually ruled by one Dark Oak, who is aided by his own commanders Red Pine, Pale Bay Leaf, Black Narccissus, and Yellow Zelkova. But Maledict was the _real_ power behind them, or so I think," Trinity replied.

"Well, thanks for the info, it gives us alot of leeway, but we really came here for the..." Amy said.

"... the Chaos Emerald," Trinity finished for her, and held it in his hand. It glowed slightly, as if it was reacting to Trinity's white Emerald.

"Hey thanks!" Tails said, reaching out for it, but Trinity then retracted it away from them.

"Heh, you think you can just go easy and get the Emerald for yourself," Trinity said, turning his back to them.

"We're sorry, but we really need it," Cream asked.

"For what? I can't be so sure, especially in these times. I dont know if you're simply greedy hunters who want these." Trinity said.

"But we don't want it for greed! We want it to save the galaxy!" Amy pleaded.

"I still doubt you. However... Should you manage to pass what I have in store, I shall give you the Chaos Emerald," Trinity offered.

"What do you want us to do?" Cream asked.

Trinity, all of a sudden, tossed the Chaos Emerald across the room, where it hit the wall and fell into a deep hole, which instantly was covered with ice.

"... You must fight me, or I shall personally convert this ice-covered wasteland into you frozen graves!" Trinity answered, his claw blades extending to full length. Everyone swore flames suddenly appeared around Amy, and her Piko Piko Hammer appeared in her hand.

"I'm blazing inside, little snowtooth!! Ready for some heat to the third degree?!" Amy yelled out like a warrior. Trinity sweatdropped dramatically from the horrible pun.

"Fine! If you wanna fight, you got a fight!" Tails added, preparing his two tails for his trademark "tail slash" attack.

"Me and Cheese are ready for anything!" Cream said, which was added with a "Chao!" by Cheese.

"Ah yes, horrible puns," Trinity commented, referring to Amy's shout at him, "Go on, you make the first move."

Amy, yelling like a true Demon soldier, charged at Trinity and swiped her hammer. However, Trinity just grabbed the hammer, ripped it from her hands, and broke it in two like a stick.

Tails, also ready, charged at the silvery fox and did his trademark tail slash attack. However, Trinity simply grabbed his tail and flung him over at the wall. Tails hit the bottom floor with a _thud_.

"Take this, you meanie!" Cream said, and she threw her little Chao at Trinity. The Chao's spindash appeared to cause at least a little trouble for the powerful warrior, as Trinity was slowly being pushed back on the ice. However, Trinity simply batted the Chao out of the way.

Tails, meawhile, had gotten up. He sprang at Trinity, using his twin tails to fly, and flew right at him. However, Trinity, in a dodge worthy of Agent Smith, leaped all the way to the other side of the cavern, evading the attack completely.

"C'mon," Trinity said, taking out yet another Chaos Emerald-like gem, this one light blue. As he did so, his normal white aura changed from white to blue. He leaped over back to near where Amy and Cream was.

**"Doma Spear!"** Trinity yelled, and with a throw, he launched several light-blue boomerang-shaped Chaos Spears. They spun around wildly and went straight towards Amy and Cream.

Amy, with spectacular speed, pushed Cream and herself out of the way, the Spears barely missing them and fizzling into the thick walls.

Tails, deciding on a sneak attack, quietly advanced towards Trinity from behind. However, for some reason, Trinity actually sensed him creeping up behind.

In a suprise strike, Trinity charged towards Tails on all fours and, getting up in a flash, he used several lightning-quick slashes, so quick that they made small blue streaks as he punched.

Tails was hit by one of them, and yelping in pain, he reared back, a bit of blood slowly oozing from the wound.

Amy seeing this as a time to strike, pulled out another of her endless supply of hammers and, once again with flames dancing around her, charged up and hit Trinity on the back of the head with a quick flaming strike.

Trinity reeled forward from the attack, and at the same time, his blue aura disappeared.

Apparently stunned at this, Trinity once again leaped to the other side of the room. He stood in place shivering a bit, until his blue aura came around him once again, when he came back to the battle.

Sprinting on all fours at Cream, he stood up and prepared to incapaciate her via his claw knuckledusters when Tails once again came up from behind with a kick. The attack connected, and in reply, Trinity did a flip over Tails after recoiling forward, so that all three of them were in front of him and noone would sneak at him from behind.

Trinity just smiled, and, with the Chaos Emerald and his two other strange Emeralds, he went into a Sonic-style spindash. In response, Cheese got into his own spindash once again.

The Chao and fox both collided in the air. Despite Trinity's larger size, Cheese managed to hold him back, that is, until Trinity further increased his power and easily barreled Cheese aside.

Amy, to stop him, got out her hammer, and whacked Trinity's spindash backwards into the wall. The fox instantly reverted out of his move.

Trinity did not charge forward, but stood in place. "Impressive. Your teamwork skills are commendable."

"Yeah! When you work as a team, anything is possible!" Cream replied.

"...Not exactly. But pretty true in many notable cases," Trinity replied.

"Whatever, we're here for the Emerald!" Amy said.

"You won't get it from me as easily as you think," Trinity replied, once again jumping over to the other side of the massive cavern, "...I'm waiting."

...

The X-Tornado gave chase through the large ice trench as the small Metarex fled the scene. However, at the mouth of a canyon, they suddenly stopped and turned around, ready to attack.

"I'm ready for them!!" Knuckles yelled.

However, he was interrupted by several explosions on the mountain side far in front of them, causing a massive avalenche of snow to cascade down at them.

**"CHRIS! GET OUTTA THERE!"** Sonic yelled. Chris piloted the X-Tornado upwards, dodging the massive avalenche.

As soon as the snow cleared from the air, everybody gasped as they noticed something else; a gigantic elegant ice palace, laden with intricate ice shapes, stood on a plateau which had been cleared by the avalenche trap.

"Whoa... Hey, that's where the Chaos Emerald signal is coming from!" Chris said.

"Let's get rockin'!" Knuckles yelled as they prepared to infiltrate the base.

...

Sonic jumped off the wing of the Tornado onto the ground, but instantly slipped and fell. Knuckles quickly followed suit. In the distence, a line of the maroon Materex were advancing.

"Use this!" Chris yelled, and out of the front of the ship came a hoverboard vaguely resembling an Extreme Gear.

"Thanks!" Sonic yelled as he caught it. Using it, he plowed through the line, sending Metarex flying, and went straight through the front entrence.

Knuckles, meanwhile, jumped back onto the Tornado, which flew towards one of the towers.

As soon as they got close enough, Knuckles jumped off, and with a flying kick, he shattered a part of the tower wall as he flew into the base.

...

Sonic was the first to the Emerald. He walked inside the control room, with the Chaos Emerald iside a pillar of ice.

"Well, here it is," Sonic said. At that moment, the wall shattered nearby; Knuckles, followed by Chris and Cosmo, appeared.

"I'll take care of this," Knuckles said, brandishing his Shovel Claws. He did a flying punch, but was sent back by the sheer hardness of the wall. He fell on the floor with a _thud_.

"Man, that ice is more like diamond!" Knuckles exclaimed in diseblief.

_"Of course, what do you expect?"_ A voice said.

"Come out!" Knuckles replied, alert.

_"If you wish to see me, stare at the Emerald,"_ the voice said. Everyone concentrated hard on it; it started to shine, and in the ice, the sillohuette of an ice-made Metarex appeared.

"You don't scare me!" Knuckles aid, and once again tried (and failed) to use a flying punch. Sonic also tried a spindash, but the iron-hard ice could not be broken.

_"Hmph. Normally I wouldn't kill you, but you adventurers have been hiding Tsali from us. Therefore, you must die__,"_ the Metarex apparition said with a malacious laugh, and without warning, a massive explosion resounded throughout the base, and the ice forming it began to crack and buckle.

"... Why does every single Metarex we encounter think that we have Tsali with us?" Chris asked.

"No time! Let's get outta here!" Sonic yelled as they scrambled out of the building, the entire base collapsing around their heads.

...

The Ice Palace collapsed behind them as they ran. They heard a loud _crash!_ as something came out of the ruins; it was the same ice Metarex they saw before, but it was much taller and more giant

Using its massive arm, it punched the ice, which cracked and parted in a zigzag line. As the ice seperated from underneath them, both Chris and Cosmo nearly fell, but they were saved by Sonic and Knuckles.

"Get to the Tornado!!" Chris yelled. Chris, Cosmo, and Knuckles all ran towards and got inside the X-Tornado, but Sonic simply grabbed his hoverboard and soared upwards.

The ice Metarex opened its mouth and unleashed an ice beam on the plane as it took off, but in mid-takeoff, Chris actually managed to evade it by rolling to one side.

Sonic went into a spindash and flew towards the Metarex. In response, the massive machine extended its had, and a giant ice spear slid out of his hand.

Undaunted, Sonic's Spindash easily went right through the ice, but he was unable to go into the hand. Sonic spyed the other hand coming up from behind.

"We have to do something!!" Cosmo shouted, and without thinking, she pressed a red square button next to her. Out of the Tornado's front tip, a laser beam fired.

"I'm sorry, I really am!" Cosmo frantically aplogized. However, it melted the ice on contact, amputating the Metarex's left arm.

_"Gaaahh!"_ The ice Metarex growled in pain, "_No matter! Tsali, you WILL be mine!"_

Sonic, free to move, leaped back onto the X-Tornado.

"Hey, thanks Cosmo, you're a real lifesaver," Chris said, "You saved Sonic!"

"... I... did?" Cosmo asked in disbelief.

"And not just that, but now, I think I know how to kill this thing!" Chris said, flying away and making a sharp turn towards the Metarex.

Chris fired the laser straight the the Metarex's face. The robot writhed and screamed in pain as the laser melted and sliced right through his eye and his entire head. As his head melted off, Chris sliced the laser beam downwards. The Metarex's body was sliced in half, and it collapsed into an icy heap as it turned to dust and was carried by the wind.

Cosmo, Sonic, and Knuckles spotted another thing; they noticed a spikey crystal fly out of the Metarex's body and plant itself into the ground.

"The Planet Egg! We saved it!" Cosmo said joyfully.

"And there's the Chaos Emerald, too," Sonic said, pointing towards a tiny red object lodged in the ice.

Knuckles, in a fast move, jumped off, swooped down, grabbed the Chaos Emerald, and jumped right back onto the Tornado in a flash.

"Showoff..." Sonic mumbled as a huge cheeky grin swept Knuckle's face.

"Well, anyway, it's all thanks to you Cosmo, for showing how to kill that Metarex. Now, let's check in on Tails," Chris said, activating his comlink.

"Tails, Amy, Cream, do you read me?" Chris yelled.

"... Chris! You won?" Tails said over it.

"Yes, how are you doing?" Chris asked.

"... We're in a bit of a situation here..." Tails replied.

"Gimme that!" Everyone heard Amy say from the bakcground, "Guys! We made contact with that figure that stole our Chaos Emerald on Zeko! His name is Trinity, and we're fighting and losing against him! Get down here!" Amy yelled over it, and then it shut off.

"They're in trouble!" Cosmo said.

"Let's go and help them out," Chris said, turning the plane around and flying towards the Ice Cave.

...

"So, you called in support? Cowardly, I say," Trinity called over, back in the Ice Cave.

"Who cares if it's 'cowardly'?!" Amy shouted, her temper at the boiling point.

"_I_ do. You think you have true strength; sorry to burst your bubble, but you don't," Trinity said. Unfortunately, this made Amy even more angry.

"**WHAT THE HELL DOES TRUE STRENGTH HAVE TO DO WITH THIS??!! HOW DARE YOU CALL ME WEAK!!!!! I HAVE TO TRUE STRENGTH OF _LOVE_**!!!!!" Amy screamed. Tails and Cream were both scared for their lives; Trinity was completely unfazed, however.

"Huh?" Trinity asked, not understanding.

At that moment, Sonic, Knuckles, Cosmo, and Chris all ran in from behind.

"Hey, Chris!" Tails said. Everybody turned; Amy's anger seemed to fade away at seeing Sonic.

"SONIKKU!!" Amy squealed, and mauled Sonic before he could react. Beads of sweat just came down Chris and Knuckle's heads. But they changed their attention to the almost arctic fox on the other side of the huge cavern.

"That was quick," Trinity said blankly, still unfazed.

"Hey, you're that guy...!" Chris exclaimed.

"You... Give us back our emerald, you thief!!" Knuckles yelled, flying towards Trinity at amazing speeds and unleashed a loud flurry of punches. However, in several moves that could have made Neo and Agent Smith go green with envy, Trinity effortlessly dodged every punch.

Knuckles, stunned at his failed move, proved an easy target.

"No you don't." Trinity, not letting his enemy have any time to react, did a lightning-fast uppercut slash. As it connected, a slight _shing!_ noise resounded through the air as Knuckles went flying. He hit the wall with a thud; his shoulders and chin had been slashed and blood was slowly oozing from the wounds.

"Oh no, Knuckles!" Cream said, running over towards her fallen comrade. Cosmo shifted her attention, first to Knuckles, then to Trinity, who was standing with his arms crossed. She was the first to step forward.

"Why are you doing this?" Cosmo asked Trinity in a pleading voice.

"I need them too. How do I know you're not using them for evil purposes?" Trinity replied.

"Fox person, I'm assuring you, we are not taking it for our greedy ends! Please, Mr. fox person, we need it desperately. If we don't have it, hundreds of planets and millions more people could die! PLEASE!" Cosmo pleaded.

Now Trinity was convinced; he didn't want others to die, and he was moved by Cosmo's plea

"Well..." Trinity inquired. Everyone else held their breaths.

"... Fine then," Trinity said, tossing the purple Chaos Emerald over to Sonic, who caught it, "If you say you're saving the galaxy from death, then I guess you're good after all."

"Of course we are. And thank you!" Cosmo asked, though Knuckles was still angry. Trinity started to walk away.

"I will meet you again later, I'm sure of it," Trinity said. However, he turned his head slightly, and gave a little wink at Tails for some reason.

Trinity, at that moment, disappeared in a flash of light-blue light.

"You know, he didn't seem that bad after all..." Tails said.

"Indeed, he seemed like he had a very caring heart," Cosmo added.

"Arrrggh... The next chance I get, I'm gonna rip that fox apart..." Knuckles angrily muttered as he slowly got up.

"Well, c'mon you guys, let's go and get off this planet," Chris said, and everyone agreed.

Later, everyone was in the bridge of the Blue Typhoon, and they were flying out of the atmosphere.

"Hey, did you guys notice that except for the calm weather, the ground and snow didn't change at all?" Chris asked.

"That's probably because it was an ice planet in the first place; the Planet Egg's removal simply caused violent storms to sweep over the planet," Tails said, "We still saved it though, and we got two Chaos Emeralds in the process!"

"Oh... Right!" Cosmo said, holding the red Chaos Emerald. However, all of a sudden, the Emerald started glowing, and then, it turned a murky brown, like a normal rock. Cosmo dropped it in for some reason, and the "Chaos Emerald" shattered into pieces. Everyone was totally awestruck.

"... That emerald we found in the Metarex base was a FAKE?!" Knuckles yelled in disbelief.

"Wow... Well, in that case, I'll recalibrate my Emerald-finding machine so that next time, it'll only detect real Emeralds," Chris said.

"But how does that explain why that Metarex had a fake Emerald?" Cream asked.

"... Maybe the Metarex created it?" Tails suggested.

"No," Cosmo replied, in a trance, "They must have been made by Tsali."

"How do you know this?" Amy asked.

"... I felt incredible negative Chaos vibrations coming from the fake Emerald before it shattered. That was why I dropped it, I was so suprised by the amount of energy. They must have been imbued with the negative power of Tsali's black Dark Emerald," Cosmo replied.

"Well, yeah, I've always been wondering what that black Chaos Emerald Tsali was always carrying around was," Tails commented.

"... That is no Chaos Emerald Tsali carries..." Cosmo muttered.

"What?" Chris inquired.

"... The Dark Emerald isn't a Chaos Emerald. It is a different Emerald, one that's many many times more powerful than Chaos Emeralds. Somehow, I sensed that that white Emerald that Trinity had was yet another of these megapowerful gems. But I don't know quite what they are called..." Cosmo replied.

"Well, let's go find the other Emeralds, maybe we'll find some more info on Tsali's Dark Emerald along the way," Tails said.

"Right! Activate Warp drive!" Chris said. Within moments, the ship had teleported away.

In the area left by the ship in its jump, millions of small blue particles appeared. They all soon gathered automatically, forming a being.

That being was a dark-blue two-tailed fox. It had no pupils in its eyes, nor any white fur on its muzzle or stomach. It had a dark-blue aura around it, as if it was in a Super form. It also had no mouth.

The figure looked around in the vast emptyness of space.

Nobody but the being himself knew that it was tracking Sonic and his friends even as they warped.

The dark fox let out a malacious laugh, which sounded much more like a crescendo of echoes than a laugh, and the being scattered into blue particles once again, which all disappeared almost instantly.

This was no Tsali haunting them.


	6. Episode 58: A Mirror Darkly

Sorry for the delay. My Stories section wasn't working for some reason.

...

**Episode 58: A Mirror Darkly**

The ship known as the Blue Typhoon slowly advanced into the atmosphere of a green planet, going slowly and cautiously.

"Tails! Two figures are escaping with the Planet Egg and a Chaos Emerald!" Chris announced. Sure enough, two dots appeared in the atmosphere.

"Zoom in the view." Tails ordered. The viewscreen zoomed several time, until the two dots were clear; a tall gray Metarex and a much smaller brown one. The smaller one resembled a baboon, a mammal native to Earth, and was holding a large green crystal, along with a blue Chaos Emerald.

"Metarex!" Amy stated.

"Let's use the Sonic Driver!" Knuckles suggested. Everyone else agreed.

"Wait a second, hold on! What's going on here?" Chris said. Everyone was staring at the viewscreen.

On the screen, two massive blue blasts of energy, looking similar to Tsali's Dark Chaos Spears except much larger in size, appeared out of thin space and impacted the Metarex. Both Metarex were vaporized and blew up in an instant. The green crystal and Chaos Emerald floated for a second, then slowly collapsed towards the planet.

"The Planet Egg was saved! And we also now can find another Chaos Emerald!... But what was that?" Cosmo asked. Everyone else just shook their heads.

"Whoa, look at this Tails!" Chris said, pointing to the viewscreen. Out of nowhere, billions of small blue particles were floating in space all around the ship. "I'm detecting _massive_ Chaos Energy readings everywhere around us. And my sensors also detect someone out above this planet, but there's nobody here..."

At that moment, all the blue particles started moving towards a single small place, a kilometer or two in front of the Blue Typhoon. All the blue particles formed and started to take a shape, forming a bright blue light in space, and without warning, the light had disappeared; a figure was floating in its place.

"Who the hell... Zoom in on that figure!" Tails ordered, and the camera feed on the picture zoomed in, revealing the figure in more clarity; a dark-blue fox, with a two tails dark-blue aura shimmering on its body. It had no pupils in its eyes, and it had no white patches of fur anywhere on its body. It also had no mouth.

"Tsali?" Cosmo suggested.

"No, I don't..." Tails started to say, when he was cut off by the figure starting to move. The figure held one of its hands up, and a massive blue sphere appeared in its hand. The bridge was nearly blinded by a surging blue light.

"What's it doing, and who is that guy?" Sonic asked.

"I have no clue..." Knuckles replied.

The light faded, and when it did, the figure was gone. In its place, a massive blue superlaser had fired and streaked towards the ship at light-speed.

Following a momentary silence, a loud boom rocked the ship, and the frigate quivered violently. The alarms went off and the room flashed red as the ship kept shaking. A large message came to the main screen; "DANGER"

"What was that?" Chris yelled over the alarms.

"Our ship has been seriously damaged; a part of that Chaos attack sliced right through the hull and nearly destroyed our engines. Small hull breaches in nearly all sections. We gotta land! Chris, prepare the ship for landing. Fortunately, our landing gear is still intact," Tails yelled.

"Roger!" Chris said, and unfolded the landing gear as the ship started to plunge towards the planet.

_'C'mon baby, hold together...' _Tails thought as they went into the atmosphere of the planet.

...

Soon enough, the ship had managed to land safetly with no further damage. However, little did they know that the figure who had attacked them was on the planet ahead of them.

The figure stood in the dense jungle. The air was unbearably humid and pollinated from the hundreds of plants all arond him. The sound of birds reverberated through the tropical air. But the figure didn't notice. He was a Chaos Being, a being made from pure Chaos Energy, and did not feel nor notice enviromental changes.

The fox looked up, and the saw the very thing he thought he had destroyed come down and settle through the atmosphere as if it hadn't been damaged.

...

"What's our situation?" Chris asked.

"It'll take about a day to repair if we use all of our repair droids overtime," Tails replied.

"Wait a sec...We have _droids _on this ship?" Knuckles asked with a shocked face.

"Yep," Tails added plainly, despite giving Knuckles a strange expression.

"Oh, cool, now _we_ don't have to do the work," Sonic replied with a huge cheesy grin. Everyone else sighed and sweatdropped.

"Well anyway, we should split up; one group will get the Chaos Emerald, one will find the Planet Egg and make sure it's safe. Somehow, I don't know how, I feel like Tsali hgas pciked up on our trail; we should be quick," Tails suggested.

"Me and Sonic should go and find the Chaos Emerald in the X-Tornado. Don't worry, Sonic's a good pilot," Knuckles said.

"I'll stay on the ship and try to repair it," Chris said.

"...Then that leaves me, Cosmo, Amy, and Cream," Tails said, with a sweatdrop.

"Sorry Tails, but looks like you got the girls under you," Sonic and Knuckles grinned. The young fox just stood there blankly.

"Oh, fine," Amy said, "We can work with Tails, right?" Tails just shrugged as Knuckles and Sonic giggled.

"Well, let's get going," Tails said, and thought _'Might as well make the most of this..._' Sonic and Knuckles ran to the hanger, and Tails opened the unloading hatch of the ship.

...

The figure that had encountered our heroes in space levitated through a clearing in the jungle.

Floating towards a nearby tree, several small blue seeds appeared in his hand; Dark Chaos Energy seeds, which would spread Dark Chaos Energy in its most pure form, and suck all the Chaos Energy out of living things.

He scattered them around the tree, and instantly, a blue gel-like substence, appearing in a network of connecting veins, started creeping up the tree, killing the leaves and eroding the bark. Soon enough, the entire tree was covered with the gel substence, and it started to spread to other trees and plants, turning them a glowing blue.

...

Tails, Amy, Cosmo, and Cream started their trek in the jungle. The air was sweet with the aroma of hundreds of wild and tropical flowers.

"So, Cosmo, do you think that we'll be able to find the Planet Egg?" Amy asked, knowing how insecure and naive Cosmo was and how much she needed reassurence.

"Oh yes, I think so," Cosmo replied with a smile, not noticing that Amy was (in a way) treating her like a little child and less of a mature girl despite her age.

"That's great," Cream added with a big smile.

"Do any of you guys have any clue where the Planet Egg is?" Tails asked. All of them shook their heads.

"We should get moving... Hey, wait a sec...?" Amy said, pointing towards an area of the jungle. A blue light was coming from it.

"What's that?" Cosmo asked.

"Let's check it out," Tails suggested, and they all advanced towards the light.

...

As the group of heroes followed the light, the advanced into a clearing, and they gasped at what they saw; the dark fox that had attacked them earlier in space was there. The figure was absorbing a blue jel-like substence from a tree, causing the tree to wilt and die.

The fox stopped what he was doing and paused for a moment, and then, he slowly turned around, facing our heroes.

"It's you!" All the heroes exclaimed at the same time.

"Who are you?" Cream asked.

"Are you Tsali?" Cosmo asked. The fox said nothing, but teleported away in a bright-blue flash.

"Who was that?" Cosmo inquired.

"I have no clue who he was, or where the hell he was going, but we should find the Planet Egg," Tails suggested. Everybody agreed with him, and kept on through the jungle.

...

Maledict frantically tapped buttons on the supercomputer behind his throne in his hallowed chambers. Contact with several Demon brigades in the Milky Way sector of the Outer Territories of the Demon Empire had been lost several seconds ago.

"What the fuck has been happening..." the Devil muttered as he desperately tried to retain communication links.

"Finally, we're in the clear!" The Devil exclaimed as he resumed contact, and then, he tried to ascertain their satuses. "_Kommander_ of the Corps of _Joyous Exultation_, come in! What's your status, over?"

"... _This is Kommander Varl. We're under attack by legions of Metarex! The Metarex uprising is too large to contain with our small forces in the area! We can't hold our position for long, but we'll fight to the death! Requesting reinforcements, over_," the Demon commander said in Demonish (translated) over the comlink.

"Copy that. We are sending two more legions to help! If you face defeat, crush the rebel Metarex scum, and take as many of the traitors as you can with you. Leave none alive. Over and out," Maledict explained his orders in translated Demonish.

"Master! The Metarex uprising is getting larger by the second!" Beelzebub came in yelling.

"No, ya THINK?!" Maledict yelled sarcastically at his advisor, impersonating Beelzebub's constant buzzing noise.

"Well, sorry..." Beelzebub apolagized, obviously not seeing the humour in Maledict's impersonation.

"Hey, where's Astorath?" The Devil asked. Beelzebub just shook his head.

"Well, I'm assuming he's doing _something _to contain the situation...?" Maledict asked. Beelzebub shook his head.

"Not like I was expecting he would..."

...

"I wonder what that blue fox really wants; first he attacks us and nearly obliterates the Typhoon, and then, he runs away," Amy commented.

"You are right Amy; that fox really is a strange one," Cosmo replied.

"Man, there are a whole lotta foxes we've been meeting; first Tsali, then Trinity, and now THIS guy. I mean, really, is this some kind of fox OC haven or something?" Tails said. The three girls simply paused and stared at him.

"W-W-W-What did I say?" Tails asked hurridly. He was never very confident around girls, even ones that he had known for a long time, but then again, not many 8 year-olds were. All the girls just giggled; Tails was just really confused.

"Let's keep going," Cream said after she finished, and she ran ahead.

"Hey, what the..." The other three heroes heard Cream's voice from behind thick bushes, and then, a large blue glow, followed by a yelp, came from up ahead.

"Cream!" Cosmo yelled as the other three went to investigate. They soon came upon the rabbit, frozen in horror, as the reason for doing so soon became apparent to all.

The dark fox had claimed the Planet Egg. The fox only stood there holding the green crystal in his hand, as the Egg glowed a deep blue along with the fox. The fox started flashing as he sucked up more and more energy from the Egg. Finally, he was charged; the Planet Egg did not glow, and the small galaxy inside it disappeared. The crystal became dull and lifeless. The figure kept flashing blue rapidly as he dropped the egg, and turned towards the heroes.

"NO! He sucked all the energy out of the Planet Egg!" Cosmo gasped.

However, at that moment before it was snatched by another dark figure swigning on a vine (Tarzan style) that everyone recognized; Tsali.

"AhaHA! I got the Planet Egg, and you can't catch me, bloody coppers!..." Tsali said, before he noticed what it really was. "Wait a second... What the hell... WHAT IS THIS?! SOME TYPE OF FRIGGIN JOKE?"

"Oh no... Not YOU again..." Tsali said disparingly as he glanced at the dark fox, "This time, instead of ripping off my limbs, now you steal all the power from Planet Eggs so I can't use them! You bastard!" Unbeknownst to either of them, Tails had gotten a scan of the creature from behind, just so they could identify him. They had gotten scans of Tsali and Trinity earlier also, so they could compare the three.

"Shut up... Uhh, fakers!" Tails burst out in the style of Sonic confronting Shadow, pointing at both Tsali and the dark fox. Both of them just gave each other puzzling expressions.

"What the hell?... Stay out of this and shut the fuck up with your SA2 references," Tsali said, before he was suprised by a fast swipe from the dark fox. This started in a climactic battle.

"Let's get outta here!" Tails yelled ran for his life, followed by the girls. The two foxes did not give chase, but kept on with their fight.

...

The heroes finally made it back to the Blue Typhoon, panting wildly. To their suprise, Sonic and Knuckeles were already there.

"Hey guys! Boy, am I glad to see you!" Tails said. This earned Sonic yet another maul from Amy when she saw her cobalt hero.

"Yeah, we found a Chaos Emerald! What about the Planet Egg?" Knuckles held up. Tails and the girls, including Amy (who had backed up from Sonic) bowed their heads in shame.

"What's the matter?" Sonic asked.

"You know that fox that attacked us in space and made us crash land? Well, he stole the Planet Egg and sucked all the energy from it. We couldn't stop him, and there's nothing we can do now. Tsali..." Tails explained.

"Yeah, we know; Tsali came and nearly shot down the X-Tornado before going after you," Knuckles said, "But hey, we got the Chaos Emerald, so that's good."

"Hey guys!" Chris came out of the cargo hold, "The ship is done repairing! Apparently, it didn't take as long as we suspected it would," Chris said.

"Great! Let's get outta here! Tsali and the dark fox are battling and will decimate this planet any second," Tails said.

"Right!" Everyone else said.

...

Menwhile as the battle raged on, Tsali became very weak. He had fought this fox before; it had won a crushing victory almost a year ago, and it took Tsali weeks to repair the damage to his body. Now, a similar performence was in effect.

Tsali collapsed on the ground as both of them were distracted by the Blue Typhoon sailing off the planet. The dark fox turned back towards the Ultimate Weapon.

"How... How could I lose again... I... cannot be beaten... Dammit..." Tsali muttered. The fox laughed its echoey laugh, and the entire area suddenly turned a blinding light blue...

...

As the Blue Typhoon left the planet, everybody was watching the rear viewscreen for views of the battle between foxes.

On a small part of the planet, a blue light shone, and in an instant, the camera was blinded by a _massive_ blue explosion that decimated the planet's surface. A behemoth rippling wave of blue power swept over the planet, vaporizing all in its path.

Where there was lush green once, the aftermath was the entire planet turned blue, with rippling and pulsating blue flames. The blast was so massive that even in the upper orbit, the force shook the Typhoon violently.

"Oh my god..." Sonic and Knuckles exclaimed. The entire bridge was glowing blue, despite the fact that the ship was turned away from the explosion.

"No... the... planet... is... is..." Cosmo started to cry at the image of the devastated planet. Amy went over to comfort her.

"Well, cheer up, at least it wasn't a complete failure; we now have two Chaos Emeralds," Sonic assured.

"I... I guess you're right..." Cosmo said under her tears. She tried to wipe them away and smile a little bit.

"Hey Tails, lemme see that scan of Tsali and that fox you got," Chris asked. Tails, in reply, handed him two small computer chips, which Chris uploaded. On the viewscreen, a picture of Tsali came up, along with a cross-section of his insides.

Everybody gasped; Tsali's body was nothing like an ordinary creature's. Tsali's whole body was robotic, with wires criscrossing everywhere. His organs were also robotic, and his blood was blue instead of red. His entire biology was so scrwewed up that it was hard to see him as a normal being.

"Tsali is a-a-a robot?" Cosmo gasped.

"No wonder his punches are so friggin powerful." Knuckles commented, remembering their short sparring duel back on Mobius.

"According to this scan, Tsali's power levels are roughly higher than you are in your Super form, Sonic," Chris made a rough estimation, "But however, lemme see..." Chris uploaded the scan of the dark fox.

A picture of the fox replaced Tsali's picture, and scrolls of data scrolled down. Another cross-section appeared, but once again, the dark fox did not have the makeup of an ordinary being; his innards were simply large blue blobs, with blue veins and everything. it was a being made entirely out of Dark Chaos Energy in is most pure form.

"WHOA! According to this, the dark fox's power is roughly 14 TIMES Tsali's power already, and according to this, it is in a very weak form. But that can't be right; in your terms, Sonic, that's about the power level of both Super Sonic and Super Shadow. COMBINED. In fact, it's easily off the charts." Everybody gasped.

"Whoa snap," Sonic whistled.

"Let's just hope we don't encounter that creature again," Amy said.

...

Back on the surface of the once-pristine planet, the Ultimate Weapon was lying with his head in the dirt. He weakly managed to get up. Both of his arms had been amputated at the elbows, electricity cackling from the disconnected wires in his body, and most of his skin had been burned off, leaving the metal shell underneath his skin completely visible. Now, he looked much more like a complete robot than the cyborg he really was. Shots of blue blood were oozing from cracks in his metal shell.

Tsali looked out over the planet. No trees, plants, water, mountains, or even sky existed; it was simply a huge flat lanscape with spots of the dark-blue gel the fox from before was absorbing, locked in a perpetual night, for there was no more sky to keep back rays from the star the planet was orbiting.

Because of that, all the oxygen had evaporated. Also, because of the radiation and lack of oxygen, a normal being would be dead almost intantly. The wind howled as if the area had been devastated by a nuke, and pieces of rock and dust flew through the air.

But Tsali could survive it... for now.

Tsali picked up the amputated parts of his arms with his powers and looked disparingly on them, "Shit... This is gonna take forever to repair... Fortunately, I can still get to my hideout."

The Ultimate Weapon found his black Dark Emerald perfectly intact laying in the ash. Because his arms were gone, he had to use his psychic powers to hold it.

"Altus Control!" Tsali yelled hoarsely, and he vanished. He appeared back in his room, inside his secret hideout from before.

_'I'll get you, because I know who you are... But it just can't be... Could the Legend of Disaster... really be true?_' Tsali thought, but those were questions for later.

"That makes no difference now. Nothing, not even that reincarnation of a god, will stop me from my mission. I don't know who he is yet, but I bet Lord Maledict will."

...

The ever-familiar dark fox reappeared from atoms in the atmosphere. The fox had that power; if he was ever killed, he could always reform himself, except for total atomic disruption.

His malevolent pupiless eyes looked upon his handiwork, before he vanished into a trillion specks of blue light.


	7. Episode 59: The Planet of Sin

This is starring Eric and co, and it won't have anybody from Sonic's crew. The Chaotix will come in at a later Episode.

...

**Episode 59: The Planet of Sin**

Lord Maledict sat still in his cold, dark computer room, completely alone and silent. He had drawn a bead on Sonic the Hedgehog and his friends; they had encountered the God of Darkness incarnate. And thankfully, he didn't have that stupid crocodile Vector to tell him to find his own computer room.

The Devil knew his master plan with Tsali and the Metarex was drawing to a close; after 30 years of manipulation and betrayel, his plan was about to come to fruition.

"It seems that Tsali, Cosmo, and Dark Oak has not yet learned to price of their traitorous actions." the Devil muttered, pretending to check his hi-tech watch as a pun on his expression.

"And not just them. Ivo Robotnik and Eric the Hedgehog - not to mention Shadow the Hedgehog - are being _massive_ annoyances. While Tsali _is_ actually curbing them somewhat, he isn't doing enough," the Devil added, "But if _I_ stopped them in the near future..."

Oh, how Sonic reminded Maledict of his younger days.

"But there is nothing you can do now, hedgehog. Nothing. I hope you understand... Just like how it was a waste to order Tsali to murder poor little Cosmo's clan because they dared to keep up the fight against me and then flee under my nose. _So_ sad," Maledict muttered with heavy sarcasm tinting all of it, his demonic features curling into his trademark devilish (no pun intended) smile.

The Devil didn't care; the Devil _never_ cared. A fact he took much pride in.

"Speaking of wasting, why do I sit here wasting time? I must find a way to meet them. But first, I will have to make contact with Eric," Maledict said, instantly preparing the scenario in his head.

"Hey... let's sice things up a litle." Maledict jumped out of his throne and out of the room. Going into the previous room, he hurridly sent a call to Tsali.

"Yes?" The Ultimate Weapon came on the line immediatly.

"Halt you position; I'm coming into the fight," the Devil instructed.

"But why?" Tsali asked.

"I need to meet with Sonic the Hedgehog. However, first, I need to make a scenario so I can encounter Eric first. And I'll meet him in a different form. You'll see," Maledict said, his gray Emerald appearing in his hand.

"Fine then, whatever. Tsali out," Tsali's voice came, and the line died.

"... And then, I must change back to my alter-ego temporarily..." He muttered once Tsali disconnected.

"Chaos Transformation!" Maledict said. His Altus Emerald glowed a bright gray, and immediatly, his body started to transform. He became much shorter, he appeared much more like a real hedgehog with a tan muzzle, and his cloak also went smaller.

'I'll call myself Satan the Hedgehog... Despite how much I hate that name, it'll work well to fool them, and I'll take the annoyance and gayness of my Satan nickname,' Maledict thought as he teleported away. Interestingly, _Satan_ (the human variation on the Demonish word _sa'tanifytjh_) was actually Demonish for, roughly, "retard" or "fool".

That was partly the reason for Maledict's hatred of it, but its real meaning was much more secret, and concerned Maledict's old past which he dared not talk about.

...

Eric and his friends were all stationed on the bridge of the Dreadnought as it came on approach to an unusual planet; a dark planet, devastated by some kind of parasitic infection several years ago as far as Eric had found out. Supposidly, it held a Chaos Emerald somewhere on its surface.

The gray planet in the viewglass of the bridge became larger and larger as the massive ship trailed through the atmosphere. Clouds whipped past it as it slowly got closer to a large dusty surface.

Even before they stepped out, their hearts had almost broken, even Fang's (who normally cared about nothing but money). The entire area was litttered with the shells of empty and crumbled buildings, and debris covered the gray dusty ground. Bodies, many horribly maimed and mutated in various ways, lay strewn across the ground everywhere.

"Daaaaaaaaaaaamn..." Eric muttered.

"I feel like I'm playing _Left 4 D_ead, holy shit." Brian commented.

"I wonder if we're gonna be grabbin' peelz any time soon." Nolan jokingly replied, and the two hedgehogs laughed.

"Somebody _really_ tore the hell outta this place," Sonya said.

"... Wonder what happened?" Fang said, preparinging his sniper rifle.

"Let's move out with caution," Sonya replied to Fang, "Something really doesn't feel right."

"You think?" Brian sarcastically replied.

"Hey, will I be carrying one of those cool guns this time?" Chase asked to Fang. Fang and Mighty sighed.

"Yes yes yes, you can use one of my older weapons," Fang reluctently agreed.

"Yay!" Chase jumped for joy, "So where is it?"

"It's in my room, on the bottom shelf of my closet." No sooner had Fang said it that Chase sped off to find it.

"Let's go grab us some gear," Nolan said. He ran off to fetch munitions.

"We'll set off in 5," Eric said.

...

Eric and his friends walked out of the loading ramp and onto the dust. The hot, stifling air immediatly hit them, and Nolan coughed. Smoke rose everywhere across the barren wasteland, and there were many more bodies then they had seen before. Other than that, there wasn't a sign of life anywhere.

"Hey guys, look over there!" Sonya noticed and pointed to a group of diplidated spires off in the distence. She was carrying a Demon carbine she found a while ago, along with grenades and, of course, her dual plasma katanas.

"A city..." Mighty said. He was only carrying a small repeating rocket launcher and grenades (being a pascifist, he didn't prefer real guns, prefering to use explosives).

"Let's check that place out!" Eric said in an overly dramatic way. The Second King of Pop (as Eric was known) was armed with his traditional platinum bullet-loaded dual XIX Magnums along with his lesser-used golden Colt Anaconda. He speeded forward in a flash, leaving a dust trail behind him. Everybody else followed as best they could.

They soon came upon the deserted streets. The flickering of fires provided the only light. Craters were everywhere, and hover vehicles had crashed all over, along with even more of those dead bodies. The place looked like a warzone.

"... Still don't know what happened here. Be very careful," Fang said, prepping his weapons (which were his sniper rifle, a pistol, and flash grenades), everyone else. Everyone followed suit.

"So what happened?" Chase asked. He was armed with one of Fang's old assault rifles, and didn't carry any grenades.

"Nobody knows yet," Brian answered him. Brian was armed with a 13-gauge shotgun with lots of ammo, and he also carried a grenade launcher.

At that moment, Sonya's sharp ears pricked up at something; a crying female voice. "You guys hear that?"

Sure enough, she knealt down behind a small niche.

"Over here!" The purple hedgehog called out, and everyone else ran to join her.

Everybody laid their eyes upon a young lime-green cat, maybe about 8-9 years of age, cuddled and crying in the corner. She was covered from head to toe in filth, and her clothes were ratty and torn. She was pale, and looked like she was starved almost beyond help.

"Hey there..." Eric went slowly forward and said. The girl slowly yet fearfully looked up at him, her eyes filled with a tsunami of tears.

"Good... You're not one of _them_," the girl said softly while still sobbing.

"What happened here? Tell us," Sonya asked as politely as she could.

"... Didn't have time... Things everywhere... Everyone died... How did this happen..." The girl muttered as she burst into tears again.

"What? What did this?" Mighty asked. After a little more muttering, the cat looked up at them with such speed it scared them, and her pupils diliated as if in a trance.

"... The Shroud!" She said in horror.

"The _what_?" Nolan asked.

"The Shroud!" The girl repeated again, this time pointing behind them

"What is the _Shroud_?" Brian asked.

"Wait, guys, look here!" Chase yelled. Everybody turned around; one of the mutilated bodies, glowing blackish, rose from the dead. The zombie-like creature looked at them with pure hatred.

"Freeze!" Sonya jumped forward with her assault rifle at the ready. In reply, the zombie just laughed, an emotional response that zombies could never have. The zombie started to speak in a strange language with great mock and contempt to them, and then, suddenly, the reanimated person tried to jump at them with murder on their mind.

Brain stepped forward and blew the person's head off in an instant with a _bam_. A red mist stayed in the air for a second, but the body remained upright.

However, to everyone's horror, a massive grayish parasitic organism started forming on a long tentacle-covered neck, keeping the body alive. Then, the body itself began to fall apart, revealing a monstrous apparition of sickening flesh and tentacles.

"Grenade!" Fang announced, throwing a small cylinderical object. Immediately, a massive momentary flash illuminated everything, and the parasite writhed about until it drooped. The host body fell over and turned to ash, and blew away in the wind.

"What the fuck was that?" Brian asked.

"That was a Shroud Combat Form..." The cat said as she weakly managed to get up with Eric's help.

"Combat Form?" Nolan asked.

"... A mutation of Shroud that is used for combat. I'll explain more later. We have no time," the cat said.

"Why?" Fang asked.

"This planet... was the victim of a Shroud invasion. That's why that person rose from the dead; resurrected and controlled by Shroud," she said.

"What's your name?" Mighty asked.

"My name is Alice. Alice the Cat. I am the last survivor of this planet. It was completely annihilated by the Demons, and then was finished off by the Shroud, who also drove off the Demon garrison," the cat introduced herself and explained.

"Where is this infection coming from?" Chase asked.

"I have no idea. As far as I remember, it came from an old castle, one that is thousands of years old. But nobody ever went there, because anybody who went there was never seen again," Alice explained.

"Do you know the way?" Eric asked.

"Yes... I'll lead you there if you can fend off any Shroud," Alice said. Everybody prepped their armaments.

"We're ready," Sonya said like a badass. Eric, Nolan, and Brian chuckled.

The young cat pomptly ran down the ruined street, with Eric and friends in close pursuit.

From a nearby alley, a group of what appeared to be vague humanoids, although they had been bloated and mutated nearly beyond recognition.

"Combat Forms! Over there!" Alice pointed. Unfortunately, her noise also got their attention. Eric and his friends instantly raised their weapons and opened fire. The mutants, seemingly unaffected by the hail of fire, began leaping towards the group like rabid monkeys on steroids, climbing on the concrete walls as they advanced.

"Do these fucking things ever die?" Eric lamented as he reloaded his dual pistols. However, some of them promptly dropped to the ground, seemingly dead.

"Oh, nevermind." He added, chuckling. "Hey Fang, see if you can go on ahead and see if there are any more ahead. Try to lure them here."

However, without warning, a group of tiny creatures suddenly came out of the ally behind the gang of Combat Forms, making a beeline for the bodies. They looked like tiny floating pupods, barely the size of Eric's hand.

"... Infection Forms..."

"What?"

"They dsicovered what they did soon enough; the pupods cut into the bodies of the dead Combat Forms, and the once-dead corpses instantly got back up on their feet, charging the heroes again.

"Shit, they're getting back up!"

A Combat Form that had sneaked around on top of a pile of rubble soon got the jump on them; it jumped at Sonya like a Hunter from _Left 4 Dead_, although Sonya didn't have any pills to grab for help.

But Nolan saw it coming. Before it got to her, he turned and fired his shotgun at it. The monster's head instantly exploded in a shower of green goo. Which, unfortunately, was close enough to Sonya to soak her in said goo.

"... You have got to be kidding me..." She closed her eyes and muttered as she desperately attempted to wipe herself off.

"Sure, I'll go do it." Fang shrugged.

"No... I'm not..." Sonya very seriously turned towards Nolan. "Nolan..."

"Umm... Umm..." Nolan stuttered, knowing that he had just accidently crossed an unmarked line with her.

"Nolan?" She suddenly chuckled as he hurriedly shook his head.

"I didn't do it, I swear!" He replied rather desperately.

"Nolan! Acknowledge what you have just done! ACKNOWLEDGE WHAT YOU HAVE JUST DONE!" She instantly opened fire. Two plasma bullets skimmed the hedgehog's left leg, burning it.

"**GODDAMNIT**, Sonya! That fuckin' hurt!" Nolan screeched.

Fang facepalmed, "Sonya, stop shooting him. We don't have time to be filling each other with lead."

"Why am I suddenly afraid that she'll shoot me in the back very soon?" Eric muttered.

"You want some too?" Sonya aimed the gun at him.

"No, I didn't mean..." Not heeding Eric's reply, Sonya let off a shot at him for the lulz, and ended up hitting him in the back.

**"SHIT!"** Eric yelled, "Stop fucking shooting us!"

"Well, before you guys kill each other, I'm gonna go find that Emerald." Mighty announced, and everyone promptly got their act together and kept going.

Alice, watching all of this, all of a sudden was afraid of going any farther with this unstable group. But, of course, she knew that she didn't have a choice.

More growls; five more Combat Forms ran in, this time from what looked like a destroyed shop to their rear. Three of them ran at Fang and began slashing at his back like velociraptors. However, they were promptly taken out by a shogtun burst courtesy of Brian.

...

About an hour later, everybody stood on a grassy hill, the city far behind them. In a small depression below was a large Gothic castle, standing ominously in the darkness of the clouds.

"That's the castle," Alice pointed out.

"Let's go!" Eric rashly said and sped into it.

_'Eric, will you stop that already...'_ Brian thought as everyone else followed him in.

As it turns out, the entrance led into a cavern in the mountain behind it. The air was suprisingly humid inside the dark cavern.

Suddenly, in front of Eric and co (who were poised with their weapons at the ready), a cloaked figure, only about as tall as Eric teleported in a gray flash.

"Who the fuck? Identify yourself!" Fang yelled.

"Hi there, Eric," the figure said in a strange accent, pulling back his hood. He looked identical to Sonic, except he had black fur and gray eyes.

"Who are you?" Eric questioned.

"My name is Satan. Satan the Hedgehog. But, of course, you can just call me Satan," the hedgehog intoduced himself. Sonya noticed that the hedgehog said his own name with a tint of disgust in his voice, as if he was simply pretending. But she wasn't quite sure.

"Hopefully, you do know that Satan is the name of the Devil, right? So why do you have that name?" Mighty asked.

"That's not for you to know. Sorry," Satan replied.

"Well, I think otherwise!" Fang yelled, taking out his snip rifle from point blank range and pointing it at the black hedgehog. The red laser sight appeared on Satan's forehead.

With an insanely loud _crack!_, Fang pulled the trigger, releasing the massive fin-stabalized round. However, to his incredulity, the bullet literally bounced off Satan's head, clanking to the floor harmlessly.

"Holy shit man..." Nolan muttered.

"Holy shit, indeed," another voice, one that sounded lower, emenated from the shadows. Apparently, even Satan was suprised, "I never thought I would find you here, Maledict."

"Who speaks?" Satan asked around, obviously suprised at this, despite using very sarcastic drama.

"_I_ speak." A figure, a fox, appeared near the entrence of one of the interlocking caverns.

"Okay, now who are YOU?" Eric asked, also confused.

The fox laughed and stepped from the shadows. He appeared like a fox version of Mephiles the Dark, an evil hedgehog that Eric and his friends helped Sonic to defeat around 6 months ago, not too long after Chris went away. He was black with bright red eyes with reptilian pupils. His fingers appeared like crystals; indeed, he seemed to have crystal fur extensions all over his body. He also didn't appear to have a mouth, which made it unusual that he could talk.

"Hey, hold on..." Satan paused, checking over the fox. His eyes suddenly went small, "But... That's impossible! How did you..."

"It's not impossible. It's inevitable," the fox said.

"You still don't understand the God of Darkness. He will surely punish you soon," Salcerus replied with an insanely evil laugh. Satan sighed in defeat."_Punish_, my ass!" Satan said disparingly, turning towards Eric, "I'll see you later." With that, the Devil disappeared.

"Ah yes, Eric the Hedgehog. Unfortunately, I don't have time for you at the moment. But I will later. Fare thee well," Salcerus said, disappearing in the form of a shadow that vanished at once in the darkness of the cavern.

Everybody simply stood there in thought of the confrontation that had just unfolded. Their minds were swollen with questions, but now wasn't the time for answers.

"This could be too dangerous. I say we meet up with Sonic and return with twice the manpower," Eric said. Everyone agreed.

"Let's get back to the ship and get out of here. And Alice... Welcome to the crew," Sonya added as they started their trek back.

Suddenly, a piercing wail filled the air; a cacophony of screeches and animal roars echoed across the landscape outside, followed by a crescendo of footsteps.

"That... doesn't sound good." Nolan slowly spoke.

"Oh no... we've alerted the Horde!" Alice shivered. "They're coming for us."

"Everyone, back to the ship! NOW!" Eric demanded, and everyone made a break out of the ancient holy building back into the city streets.

The light from the fires scattered about the ruins illuminated countless shadows running next to the buildings. The group of heroes picked up the pace, knowing that they basically had just disturbed a hornet's nest of Shroud.

"Oh, we've really pissed them off now..." Brian muttered to himself.

As the gang ran, an orchestra of footsteps followed not too far behind. Combat Forms began pouring out from everywhere; from the buildings, allyways, and streets, until a giant mob of three hundred-strong mutants now chased after the group like a gang of hungry lions. Several dozen more hideous creatures, alerted by the riot, quickly joined the pursuing pack.

Eric and his friends turned and fired everything they had as they took off running for their lives. Mighty launched several grenades, sending fleshy chunks of Shroud flying every which way. The others desperately threw everything they had against the power of the Horde.

Eventually, after what felt like an eternity of running, they finally saw the Dreadnought still parked several hundred feet in front of them.

"We're almost there!" Sonya shouted, panting heavily from exhaustion.

Eric and Fang, who got to the ramp first, turned and began firing into the crowd of mutants running at them while the others sprinted up the loading ramp.

Many Combat Forms were quickly cut down by the hail of fire; of course, for every single one that died, a dozen more seemed to take its place. Piles of flesh, bones, and gore began piling up everywhere in a vague radius around Eric and Fang

Both Sonya and Nolan also turned as they went up the ramp, firing their remaining rounds into the two immediately ran for the bridge, in order to pull up the loading ramp for takeoff.

Eric and Fang were so distracted shooting down the waves of Shroud mutants that neither of them noticed the ramp behind them beginning to close without them leaving them behind to get eaten by monsters.

"... Oh shit, FANG!" Eric called, pointing to the ramp that was now slowly rising.

The weasel, distracted for a moment, managed to grab on and pull himself up the ramp, which was now several feet off the ground and rising, just in time before he became overwhelmed.

The two remaining Mobians ran up to the bridge, the ramp fully closing behind them and rendering them safe behind the Dreadnought's mighty hull. Without a target, the Shroud mutants now resorted to attacking to landing legs of the Dreadnought, now in an instiable and irrational bloodlust for the Mobians inside the ship.

With control inputs from Sonya, the ship's engines activated, incinerating numerous Combat Forms that were trying to climb into the engine openings. The Dreadnought slowly rose into the air, the force bowling dozens of mutant to the ground, and launched into the dark sky to safety, leaving the hellish world behind.

...

Meanwhile, on an unknown planetoid in the deepest reaches of the Milky Way, another conversation was brewing. Inside his private quarters, the true leader of the Metarex listened patiently to his cyborg followers speaking to him.

_"Greetings, M."_ The robotic figure in the center spoke, clad in bright-purple Metarex armor. His normally deep and mature voice was distorted and electrified almost beyond comprehension by his armour systems.

His helmet had a green Metarex eye as a visor, and though he was shorter than his comrades, he would not have shown it in combat. A shining golden sword hung from a scabbard on his hip. The figure, as it so turned out, was none other than the notorious Dark Oak, the Supreme Metarex Leader.

Unlike his robot Metarex soldiers, Dark Oak wasn't really a robot. He was actually a Seedrian, encased in a thick power armour shell that he made himself after his species was exterminated by the hated Tsali. His real name was Luke, the former Chief of the Seedrian race. Using the power of a rare Doma Emerald, along with the Chaos Energy found in Planet Eggs, his power armour was virtually impenetrable to most space weapons and powers. Thanks to his built in systems, Dark Oak was a very powerful warrior.

"Hello again, friends." The new figure now known as M stated.

_"Have you been able to find anything on Tsali?"_ One of Oak's fellow companions spoke.

He was clad in a pale Metarex suit with two horns and three insectoid eyes. His voice also was not as distorted as his friend's. This Metarex leader was Pale Bay Leaf, otherwise known as Jave the Seedrian. He was the most well-rounded of the Metarex leadership, proficient at all tasks and operations.

_"Om nom nom nom..."_ One of Dark Oak's other comrades blurted as he devoured a plate full of curry and rice. He was much larger than his comrades, and he was wearing a bright-yellow power suit.

He was Yellow Zelkova, aka. Ceres the Seedrian. Physically the largest and strongest of the Metarex leadership, he loved eating and beating the shit out of anything in front of him, not unlike Astorath by any means except for the completely different mannerisms.

The last Metarex leader turned and sighed at his comrade's insatiable appetite. He was clad in a jet-black power suit with an oddly-elongated helmet and visor. He was known as Black Narcissus, once known as Dioxin the Seedrian. He loved himself more than anything else, and was easily the most scientific, not unlike Beelzebub, although he did not go anywhere near to the extent of the Demon Grand Admiral's behavior.

These were not all of the Metarex leadership; their final comrade Red Pine - Nick the Seedrian - was not among them. Blue Spore - Quinn the Seedrian, who was not technically a Metarex leader but Luke's honorary military attache - was busy with Demons at that point in time.

"... Indeed, I have. I have finally tracked a reliable bead on Tsali."

_"What shall we do?"_ Dark Oak questioned his enigmatic superior.

"We have no time to waste, my friends. I have just discovered that Tsali Z'Charon is not on the Blue Typhoon as you once thought, Luke." All of the Metarex leaders remembered sending an Elite Metarex to go and fight the ship, where it was promptly destroyed by a second ship that was taking off at the same time.

_"... Oh. That isn't good." _Said Luke, realizing the bad implications of an accidental hostile act against their own potential allies.

"True, but there is something else that is good." The tinny voice of M spoke, "I have confirmed the presence of Cosmo the Seedrian on board that ship."

All of the Metarex leaders gasped.

_"I knew it!"_ Bay Leaf exclaimed, stamping his foot down, _"I told you all a million times that Tsali wasn't aboard that ship, and none of you listened to me! You almost killed Cosmo because you ignored my intel!"_

_"Oh shut up, Jave!"_ Narcissus yelled.

"Calm down, everyone." M requested in a very calm manner. The Metarex leaders promptly followed his advice. "As I was saying, I am changing your objectives. You must find and protect the Blue Typhoon. Doing that, you can ensure that Cosmo will be safe."

_"Of course, komrade," _Oak replied,_ "We must save my daughter!"_

_"Hopefully, Sonic and his friends won't kill us on sight like we tried to do to them." _Jave sarcastically commented. Both Ceres and Luke sweatdropped.

"I have been trying to contact them and apologize for a while, but for some reason, I'm not getting through to them." explained M, "There seems to be a system of external proxies around their communication systems.

_"... Meaning?"_ Dioxin inquired.

"... Meaning that the only group that can contact them externally now are the ones who originally created the proxies... or people who already know how to get around them." Explained M a little bit more.

_"Do you think Maledict is onto us?" _wondered Jave aloud.

_"I don't know, but nevertheless, we have to move fast." _Dark Oak took his helmet and put it back on his head, _"Metarex, roll out!"_


	8. Episode 60: New Enemy, Old Friend

Note: This Episode is similar to the actual one, except that Eric and co. are now in it as well. It also won't have most of the Eggman scenes, since I'm just replacing several of them with Eric's company.

I shoul note that Shadow is OOC in this chapter and in the rest of the story. He will be a bit more friendly and social than he is usually depicted. Oh, and he won't lose his memory; he will remember Sonic and his friends.

...

**Episode 60: New Enemy, Old Friend**

Sonic and his friends were sitting on the bridge, relaxing and bantering with each other.

"You know, there hasn't been very much information on Tsali or the Metarex lately. Don't you wonder why they haven't done anything yet?" Sonic asked.

"Well, Tsali is always active. I'm sure he's simply doing something evil far away from here," Cosmo replied.

"How do you know he's doing something _evil_?" Knuckles asked. Cosmo stood up sharply, but Amy stepped in.

"What would that autistic killer of a fox do that would _not_ be evil and unimaginably cruel?" Amy asked.

"Oh, so you're now saying that he's evil only because he's autistic? Don't be stereotyping now," Tails interrupted.

"Why would you care?" Knuckles asked to Tails

"Because **_I_ **am autistic too! I thought I told you that a long time ago! Why do you think I have a genius level IQ matching Eggman's? Sure, I can be social, but seriously, other people with it can too. What about Eric? He's hilariously awesome, and he's autistic as well! Ever thought about _that_?" Tails replied, steadily fuming evermore.

"Tails is right," Chris walked into the bridge, originally outside for a nap, "We shouldn't judge somebody only because of a brain disease."

"It is **not** a _disease_! You don't _catch_ autism from others like the flu! Otherwise, you all would have gotten it from me _years_ ago!" Tails snapped at the human. His usually docile temper was sharply on the rise.

"The guy's retarded. He's a mental case," Knuckles bantered.

"That isn't true," Cosmo came in once again against Knuckles, agreeing with Tails, "If he was retarded, how would he be so powerful? And how would he be knowledgeable enough to stay one step ahead of us everywhere?"

"Exactly," Cream said.

Cosmo finished her previous statement. "What could he possibly hope to get by doing all of this?"

"Not all villians have diabolical plans, Cosmo." Chris began, "Some of the most evil people have no desire other than to watch the whole universe burn... and Tsali is certainly the most dangerousof them. That's why we have to stop his reign of terror either way, because if we don't, he will never stop killing people."

"What about the Metarex, though?" Knuckles commented.

"Well, we don't know what they are actually doing, so we should hold back from behing hostile towards them unless in self-defence." Tails declared. "From what you told me ealier, I guess they think I'm Tsali for some reason, so that's probably why they have been hostile so far. But that doesn't explain why they have suddenly given up on hunting us."

"Unless they've realized their mistake." Chris theorized.

"What exactly are we doing sitting around here twiddling our thumbs again? I thought we had Chaos Emeralds to find, and a batshit insane android fox to stop." Knuckles put a screeching halt to the conversation.

"Knuckles is right, guys. We should be going." Amy replied.

The words **"MESSAGE ALERT"** suddenly appeared on the screen, interrupting their conversation.

"Oh hey, we got a video message. Open it up," Tails asked. An image of mail opening came up, and a loading bar also appeared. It loaded in only about a second, however, and a the familiar silver fox they all remembered from Planet Breezy appeared. He was standing against a dimly-lit background; Chris wondered where he was now.

"Trinity! What do you need?" Chris asked. Knuckles turned away from the image; he still didn't like the fact that Trinity did beat him in a fight last time they met.

"_It's not what I need. It's something that you need_," Trinity replied, "_I have come to tell you of a breakthrough. I managed to find Tsali's hideout and placed a video bug inside it, taping all of his conversations inside his room. I just found something extremely disturbing_."

"What is it?" Cosmo asked anxiously.

"_Here, I'll give you the feed to it_." Trinity said, the crouched out of the camera view and pushed some kind of button.

The image, through a short haze of static, changed to a dark room with wires across the walls and ceiling. Tsali was standing there. The Sonic Team members listened anxiously to the conversation on the screen.

_Tsali appeared to be talking with two figures on the screen he was looking at. One of them appeared to be a large fly-wasp specimen, the other appeared to be a giant hulking mass of red skin, muscles, and a small head._

_"Hello there, komrades. There is something I must tell Maledict. Where is he?" Tsali asked._

_"He should be here very soon." the fly said, in a slightly hyper and maliciously reedy voice._

_"Yeah, I heard he got owned by de furry little green man," the red humanoid said, who sounded like a cross Arnold Schwarzenegger and the Heavy from Team Fortress 2, but with a little bit of retarded-people speak on the side._

_At that moment, a third figure appeared, a tall humanoid completely shrouded in a black cloak sitting on a beautifully elaborate red throne against a red background._

_"Beelzebub! Astorath! You guys have stuff to do, so don't annoy me. I'm tired and pissed right about now." The figure spoke in a language nobody on the Blue Typhoon other than Cosmo understood._

_"As you wish," the fly replied in Demonish, and his feed cut out._

_"Sure, whatever," the red humanoid also said in Demonish, his feed also disappearing from the image. Tsali bowed slightly to the figure._

"Who is that guy?" Amy whispered.

"Shh! Listen!" Knuckles replied, snapping his view back towards the video.

_"Lord Maledict, I am sorry I got there late." Tsali said formally._

_"Don't blame yourself, it wasn't any of our faults. It was Salcerus that appeared in the eleventh hour to screw everything up." The cloaked figure said, this time in plain English with an unusual accent._

_"Okay then. What are you planning for Sonic and his friends?" Tsali asked._

_In response, the figure pulled back his hood, revealing his antagonistic appearance. He looked exactly like Sonic, at least in terms of his head, except he had black fur. His muzzle was also very pale, unlike Sonic's, which was a healthy tan. His entire body was shrouded with a heavy black cloak with a crimson pentagram emblazoned on the front other than his reptilian hind legs, which were covered with goldon power armor._

_"That is why I have come. There has been a change of plans." Maledict said, "It's about Cosmo."_

_"I know, I know, you wanted me to kill her. What about her now?" Tsali asked._

_"I am hereby belaying the Cosmo assassination order. The girl is no longer a threat to us. With his species and her guardians gone, she has nowhere to hide. Plus, it seems that the Metarex have begun hunting down her ship for some reason." The Devil said._

_"I will not stop until I crush her heart in my fist!" Tsali yelled impatiently. "And why the hell would Dark Oak hunt his own daughter down?"_

_"I believe it has something to do with both you and Miles 'Tails' Prower, but I'm not exactly sure. Either way, I have just detected another Chaos Emerald, and my gut instinct is that Eric and Sonic will make a beeline for it. Find that Emeraldbefore they arrive." Maledict replied._

_"What about Sonic himself?" _

_"Forget him; he isn't a threat right now. He and his friends are too weak to pose any kind of hinderence, plus the stuff about the Metarex hunting them down before."_

_"But what if he becomes a threat later?" Inquired the black fox._

_The Devil's face suddenly became very grim. __"... He won't."_

The video feed of Tsali's room ended there. Everyone had questions swirling in their heads.

"Wait... HE was the one who told Tsali to kill me?" Cosmo asked with a shocked look on her face.

In another haze of static, the image came back to Trinity.

"_Did you get all that?_" Trinity asked.

"Yeah, we did." Tails replied.

"There's something about Tsali and this whole thing that doesn't make sense. Why do I have a feeling that person Tsali was talking to might be behind this whole war between him and the Metarex?" Cosmo asked.

"Indeed, it would have to take a consummate amount of psychological skill for anyone to convince Tsali to not go after us." Tails added.

"_That could be true, but there is no way of knowing right now._" Suddenly, there were noises in the background. Trinity looked over his shoulder apprehensively. "_Shit_... _I gotta go."_

"Okay then, talk to you later," Tails said. The image of Trinity shut off.

However, only a few seconds later, another "**VIDEO MESSAGE"** warning appeared. "Now who is this?" Knuckles grumbled.

The message opened up; this time, the familiar green figure of Eric the Hedgehog appeared. He was standing against the background of the bridge of the Dreadnought.

"Hey Eric!" Sonic greeted.

"_Yo man. We need yo help_," Eric said, surprisingly uneasy. "_We found a Chaos Emerald, but unfortunately, the planet its on is kinda... well, haunted. There's no sign of the Planet Egg, or any Metarex or Tsali. But there's something... else_."

"What do you mean?" Cosmo asked with wide eyes.

_"... Some wierd shit mobbed us, and we were forced to get out of there. We were searching for you to ask for you help."_ Eric replied. _"Apparently, they're called Shroud parasites, and they have infested the planet along with everything on it. We narrowly managed to save our asses."_

Sonya suddenly stepped into frame from off-screen. _"We managed to rescue a young survivor, and she told us all about this. These Shroud creatures take over their hosts - living and dead - and mutate them into hideous monsters. They attacked us in a huge swarm and forced us to flee the planet."_ The teenaged purple hedgehog elaborated.

_"You call them monsters. I call them bitches,"_ Eric commented.

"If it's for a Chaos Emerald, of course, we will gladly help," Tails said.

_"Great. Rendezvous above the planet. We'll send you its coordinates now. Just be careful, these rolly-polly motherfuckers are no pushover."_ Eric finished, and then went off the air. Tails turned to everybody.

"Well, everyone let's get the Warpspace driver up," Tails reported, and everyone got busy. _I wonder what they encountered that would have beaten them so badly that it made them run away..._

...

Lord Maledict typed on his monitor an order to send to several of his _Kommanders_ in the Milky Way region. He was also rounding up the elite members of the feared SpecOps divisions of the Secret Police, known as _Kommandos_.

"_Gninarw ot lla gbrrfh hpor iynmm siuudh pjooyk sjgktko uhfrij yohj siufr idfjh sootgf fjy rpuioghv diogjiopd fioyf kommadnoes iguseeth kommadners yuktuyopiyjt edpogujio wsiotrt metareuxu. Uyrgy frotuh duthge fruihg iygdetig egyrgyhose-classiu dreadgirutvnfpoi regeh "dreadnoughtedtgb". Uyrgy guioeegh oidtewu eijy. E fioyr ryoyh prjyio qfrh jtji tiurjio edsitjg ymij nbjiodr_. _Tiuerg idrytgi skry oirty diogjo, guies shrodues grjj eteguy rft rjhtiu dtio uisdth gjur goiurtj isdt tieh rfuyh afgiurg._"

(**Translation**: _Kommanders and Kommandos of the Milky Way, this is crucial to the suppressing of the Metarex Uprising. You are to find the Blue Typhoon and the Dreadnought ASAP and protect them at all costs. You have your mission. I expect execution of my orders immediately_. _Additionally, the Shroud have started to spread again. You must prevent their infestation from spreading at all costs. This is crucial_.)

Maledict had realized that Sonic and his friends had been listening to the previous conversation the Devil just had with Tsali minutes before, but, of course, such was the Devil's deceiving and trickery. He had predicted it from the start, but negated to tell Tsali that they were being watched for personal reasons. He also had neglected to tell Tsali about Shadow; he was in stasis on the Crimson Egg.

Before moving out, the Devil decided to simply bask in the glory of his immediate surroundings; his fortress in the very core of Planet Hell.

Using his teleport, Maledict transported to the observation deck of the fortress, just above his throne room. It was deathly quiet, and his footsteps echoed. Several rows of glass were around the walls. Strolling to one of the panes, Maledict looked out.

Even to him, the view was beautiful. The entire inner-core of the planet was artificially hardened and hollowed out trillenias ago by the ancient Demons, who were seeking sanctuary from the hellish conditions on the forbidding surface. The entire core was really a city; Caronius, the _Kapital_ of the Empire.

The view was liked looking from core of the Death Star from _Star Wars_ if the entire thing was hollowed out, like the inside of a perfect hollowed sphere, with tiny lights everywhere around it.

Several areas were carved into the sphere walls; they were the parts of the city itself. The smallest city parts carved into the sphere were the size of at least 10 New York-sized cities combined; the largest ones, nearer to the equatorial middle area, were about the size of Wisconsin, in the human protectorate US on Earth.

Inside the cities, it would seem like you would be inside a giant cavern with skyscrapers everywhere; eventually, you would get to the cliff side, overlooking the entire core, and the Devil's giant fortress in the middle.

Caronius wasn't just the_ kapital_ city of Hell; it was the _only_ city. The only passageways to it were through the Surface Tunnels, gigantic caverns connecting several fortresses on the surface to the core. Aside from those fortresses and factories developed to harvest the Hell magma into Demon alloy, the surface was totally deserted.

The Devil had seen the scape so much, however, so while it would be awe-inspiring for a normal human being, it was nothing to Maledict.

...

Trinity had gotten everything ready. Except that, in reality, the "Trinity" wasn't really Trinity himself.

The_ real_ Trinity was strapped to a white chair in a dimly-lit interrogation room. He was struggling to get out of the chair and contact Sonic that he had been kidnapped, but he had been tightly bound and beaten by the guards beforehand.

A few minutes after the transmission to Sonic ended, "Trinity" turned around, smiling evilly towards the real one in the chair.

"Who the fuck are you anyway? Why did you kidnap me?" Trinity shouted at his doppelganger. The alternate Trinity laughed at him.

In that moment, "Trinity" changed. His appearence became considerabely taller, his claw-blade knuckledusters disappeared, and even clothes - black clothes - appeared on his body. His short silver hair became long and flowing, like ripples on water. His eye colours also changed from yellow to sky-blue. Pieces of silver armour plating appeared on his shoulders and knees. An extremely long silver Emerald Sword, like the ones carried by Maledict, the Demons, and Tsali appeared in his hand. His muscles became much more pronounced than before.

The final straw came when, in a flash, three black feathery wings, like those of an angel, appeared on his back; the third one was simply poking right out of his back like a shark fin. Trintiy gasped as the figure turned around, a small smile visible on his face behind his abnormally-long locks.

"I am the Tephiroth, Three-Winged Angel and the personal assassin of Angel leader Jesus Desjiliac Christos." The fox introduced himself. "Why do you look so surprised?"

"What has Jesus told you to do this time?" Trinity asked with anger pouring through him. Indeed, Trinity was shocked at how the Angel Federation was getting involved in a conflict that wasn't even in their multi-galactic territory, a conflict fought well within the borders of Demon-controlled space.

"In case you did not know, I have been ordered to find and kill Tsali Z'Charon the Ultimate Weapon, by the orders of Jesus. Trust me, he knows of Tsali's crimes." The Dark Angel replied blankly, turning towards the screen.

On the screen, video feed of Sonic and his friends on the bridge of their ship talking to a green hedgehog on a screen appeared. Along with it, audio feed came as well.

Trinity sat there numbly in the short pause afterward, taking it all in.

"Jesus believes that you know extremely valuable information about Tsali, and that is what I need you to tell me..." Tephiroth broke the pause, "... That, and you can tell me a few things about Cosmo."

"Cosmo?" Trinity asked, remembering her very well.

"Oh yeah, I forgot to mention that... but whatever," Tephiroth replied, gathering his things. "Now Trinity, I am asking nicely for you to be a good little boy while I'm gone. I will be back soon. Then we will talk about all this."

"Wait!" But Trinity was too late. With a shout of "Doma Control!" Jesus's assassin disappeared.

Trinity sat alone in the cold room. He was frantic, and his heart was racing a million miles. He had to contact Sonic quickly, or else, all could be lost. The former prince knew all too well how powerful Tephiroth was; he could seriously face Tsali himself one-on-one and come out victorious.

He wasn't gonna lose his to either faction of the Eternal War like he lost his parents and his planet to them. It would be too much for him to take.

...

On the surface of the planet, Sonic, Amy, and Knuckles strolled out of the Blue Typhoon. The darkness and relatively cool air hit their skin, and the choking smell of smoke, decaying flesh, and dust filled their nostrels. Knuckles sneezed blankly.

Amy, meanwhile, was desperately trying not to have a breakdown from all the rotten dead bodies on the ground; she was always squeamish with dead things.

"Damn, Eric wasn't lying... This place really was torn up like paper." Knuckles stated, wiping his nose.

"Speaking of him, let's go find the place where he would meet us." Sonic replied to him.

All three of them started walking over a bridge to the old cathedral where Eric had told them the Emerald was. Unfortunately, as it was over water, Sonic was tiptoing very carefully over the bridge, though it was quite wide.

The M.E. Guardian decided to play a little prank on his speedy rival Sonic. Raising his foot, he slammed down on the bridge, causing it to violently shake.

It worked flawlessly; Sonic leaped in fright and latched onto a nearby pole, hugging it like it was a long-lost brother. Amy's tone and expression went lower. The echidna just laughed and laughed like it was a great joke.

"Knuckles! Don't do that again!" Amy lectured him. Knuckles stopped promptly stopped his laughing fit.

"Okay, just couldn't resist it. Let's keep going." Knuckles replied, but Sonic didn't move.

"NO! I'm not going anywhere! MOMMY!" Sonic shouted hysterically.

Amy knew just how to deal with this. Using her hammer, she whacked Sonic's hands, forcing him to let go, and forcefully dragged him with them across the bridge.

...

Sonic, who had lost his hysteria and had gotten up but was still panting with the incredible fright of going over a stream of water (at least in his mind), strolled around a large sand pit that lay in front of the cathedral.

"Hey Sonic, you're late!" Eric called from the entrance.

"Yeah, we had some... Distractions..." Amy said, glaring at Knuckles. The echidna just sighed in reply.

"Well, we brought everything! Are you guys ready?" Sonya called, "Let's do this."

"Oh yeah!" Amy replied with a cheerful face. Sonya and Amy were always extremely good friends, and Sonya especially enjoyed taking care of Cream, though she did it rarely.

"Hello there," Alice said softly and shyly. Amy replied with a curt nod.

"Hey Fang! What did Eric promise you this time?" Knuckles called over. Fang just laughed in reply, and Knuckles joined in soon.

There was a slight pause as everyone looked around.

"Hey Sonya, I thought you told us that you were attacked by hordes and hordes of Shroud. So where are they?" Amy wondered aloud, "There's nothing here."

"To be honest, I have no clue," replied her good friend, "They seem to have disappeared or something."

"Hold on a sec, what's that? That looks like... the same stuff I saw on Mobius after Tsali arrive," Sonic asked, starting to walk into the sand pit. There was a puddle of blue gel-like goo, the same substance that Amy and the girls/Tails had encountered on the jungle planet with that dark Tails copy.

"Sonic, I don't think that's a good idea." Nolan warned. But Sonic ignored him and crouched in the sand, investigating.

However, to his great suprise, at that moment, three large tentacles burst out of the ground, and with lightening speed faster than Sonic could get away, they grabbed him and pulled him under the sand, hiding him from view.

"SONIKKU!" Amy cried out, desperately looking for him.

"Oh shit, Sonic! Can you hear me?" Eric called out. There was no reply but the bubbling of the gel-like liquid. All of a sudden, a cackling and creepy voice from a being unseen loudly laughed, echoing in the air.

"I have been waiting for you..." The voice boomed triumphantly. All of Eric's crewmates had there weapons at the ready.

"Show yourself, asshole!" Brian yelled.

"Whoever you are, you'll pay for taking Sonic!" Amy screamed in rage, with her hammer at the ready.

"Heheheh, as you wish," the voice replied.

All the tentacles in the puddle retracted, and from the puddle, a wet disembodied brain morphed from the gooey mass of Chaos Energy. The brain floated in the air, and the puddle started to form around it. Tentacles came from the puddle, and finally, two glowing red eyes completed the creature.

Everybody gasped in suprise; they saw Sonic, squirming inside the parasite's liquid body. He seemed to be trying to communicate with them somehow, but there was no way he was able to.

"So, you have finally returned?" The giant malevolent parasite asked to Eric. He had no mouth; his voice was apparently disembodied.

"Yeah, it's not like we _weren't_ gonna come back!" The green hedgehog grinned.

"I see," the creature replied.

Fang, for reasons only known to himself, cocked his sniper rifle and fired it right at the brain. The high velocity fin-stabalized round tore right through the liquid and went straight towards the brain, barely missing Sonic along the way. However, it abruptly came to a stop, and it fell out of the body and cluttered on the sand.

"Surprise!" The parasite yelled, and with a super-fast tentacle swipe, knocked Fang right into the cliffside wall like a mace. He moaned in pain, clutching his stomach.

"Man down!" Nolan yelled, running to Fang's aid. However, when he tried to get close, another watery tentacle grabbed him and slammed him right into Brian, knocking both of them off their feet and sending them flying.

"Double kill," The creature muttered with self-satisfaction. Out of Eric's crew, only Eric, Sonya, Chase and Alice were upright and unharmed.

Chase was soon minused from that list; a tentacle grabbed hold of his legs and swept him away. The young hedgehog skidded along the grass, scratched, but not seriously harmed.

"... Correction: Triple kill."

"You bastard! You try to hurt Chase, you go through me!" Sonya challenged, letting loose a hail of ineffectual plasma rounds.

The giant floating blob, annoyed by her presence, unleashed a tentacle swipe; with expert precision, the teenaged purple hedgehog rolled out of the way.

A roar from afar sounded before Prime could respond; the Blue Typhoon advanced several hundred yards away.

"The Blue Typhoon! Tails, kill this bitch!" Eric said joyfully.

In reply, balls formed at several areas along the ship - its energy turrets - and arcs of energy lanced from the Typhoon towards the superbeast. However, they were completely useless; Prime's long tentacles moved in front, causing the blasts to fizzle in the liquid that formed his watery "skin."

"Wait! Let me get into the Sonic Driver." Eric yelled, and jumped to the Typhoon faster than Prime could catch him. By that time, the blue cannon was already prepared.

"Eric, get into a spin now!" Tails yelled via the intercom.

"OKAY!" Eric replied, getting into a spindash. Arcs of green electricity came around him, and green light filled the barrel of the Driver. With a loud roar, it fired, and Eric flew out of it directly towards Prime.

However, once again, the efforts were futile; Prime simply smacked the spinning Eric away with one of his tentacles, sending him flying into a cliff wall. There was no sign of him through the dust, until he fell to the ground limply, slowly getting up and rubbing his head.

"... Fuck!" Sonya muttered. Nothing was in their favor, and all the odds were against them.

Prime, like a whip, swept one of his tentacles near the ground in an attempt to trip Sonya, but she was ready. She jumped over it like it was a jump rope. The next swipe came slightly higher, trying to whack her head, but she ducked under it.

The purple hedgehog aimed her Demon assault rifle and held down the trigger. It fired semi-automatic bursts of superheated plasma energy, which bombarded Prime with fiery projectiles. However, most of the blasts dissipated when they hit Prime's liquid body.

"You guys need to find the Chaos Emerald! I'll try to distract him!" Sonya paused in her firing as she turned to Amy. Her weapon then began fizzling dumbly; it had run out of plasma charge. Sonya growled and threw the useless weapon away onto the ground.

"But what about you?" Amy asked.

"I'll be fine! You have to get the Chaos Emerald, NOW!" Sonya replied, narrowly dodging yet another attempted tentacle attack. It seemed almost like this was the end of the line.

...

On the Egg Crimson, in the darkness of the sealed cargo room, Maledict appeared in a gray flash. He was carrying two Chaos Emeralds with him; the purple one and the red one, collected by Tsali.

In front of the Devil was an illuminated stasis pod, containing the small body of non other than Shadow.

Using his extreme hacking skills, Maledict overrided the security system and programmed it to shut down. Steam was expelled from the machine as the glow faded, the capsule opened, and the dark hedgehog inside awoke.

"Where... am... I...?" Shadow asked weakly, his vision seriously blurring and his entire body aching.

"Greetings, Shadow the Hedgehog." The Devil replied, causing Shadow to jump. "You are in Robotnik's spaceship the _Crimson Egg_, and you have been sealed in a stasis tube ever since you saved the Earth."

"... Then who are you?" Shadow asked. "And where is Sonic?"

"That depends, Shadow. I can be either your worst nightmare, or your greatest ally," Maledict replied. "Sonic and his friends are in grave danger,"

"Danger?" Asked Shadow.

"Yes, but you can still help. Use these to Chaos Control over there." Maledict stated, presenting a purple and a red Chaos Emerald to Shadow.

"Thank you, whoever you are." Shadow thanked.

"Don't mention it," the Devil replied with a small smile. With the long-repeated shout of "Chaos Control!" Shadow vanished.

Maledict grinned to himself. _Well, that was strangely easy... _

...

Back on the planet, things weren't going too well. Prime had taken Sonic, and he was easily winning against Sonic friends, who were on the verge of defeat.

From afar, Eric, struggling to keep up the fight, suddenly thought he saw a yellow flash from far off.

Before he could ponder it, a bright-orange flash cut through the air, attacking Prime with an unholy swath of Chaos energy. Suprised by this move, Prime weakened his grip on Sonic, who, taking advantage of it, spindashed right out of Prime's body.

"Daaaaaaaamn..." Eric said in wonder.

"NO!" Prime yelled. He floated backwards a bit in shock, and then looked up to see who was the one who attacked him.

To their shock, the one who was standing on top of the cathedral with two Chaos Emeralds was none other than Shadow the Hedgehog.

"Is that...?" Amy stuttered.

"... Oh my fucking god, its Shadow!" Eric enthusiastically cried.

"Shadow?" Sonic and Knuckles shouted simultaneously.

"I'm glad that all of you are alright. I see you're in a bit of a tight spot. Let me help you out." Shadow greeted them curtly.

"But you... Oh, nevermind! Let's take care of this guy, everybody!" Sonic switched his attention.

Everybody turned to face the heavily outnumbered Prime. The father of the Shroud simply narrowed his eyes at them, and, with his body glowing red slightly, he cloaked himself and disappeared from view.

"What the... Where did he go?" Shadow yelled. Before he could move, he was knocked away by what was really one of Prime's now-invisible tentacles. The Evil One's laughter echoed in the air.

"You have put up and excellant fight, hedgehog, but know that soon, you will all be my multi-course meal. We shall meet again." Prime's voice echoed. With an invisible but audible _shriek_ sound, the Master of Sin was gone.

"Yeah, shuddup, you faggoty child rapist!" A low voice sounded from the roof of a building nearby.

Everybody looked to it; on it, they saw the black fox they all knew and hated.

"Tsali!" Amy and Knuckles shouted. Tsali did not seem to feel like talking to them, but instead, he stared with a diabolical smile at Shadow.

"... Hmmm... So THIS is the so-called Ultimate Lifeform? Lord Maledict said that you were much more than this. If you're so much of an Ultimate, prove it." The Ultimate Weapon said.

"You don't know who you're up against!" Shadow shouted, Chaos Controlling right in front of Tsali.

Shadow attempted to punch, but his fist was held and blocked effortlessly by Tsali. The same thing happened when Shadow tried the other arm at the same time.

A wave of Dark Chaos Energy shot from the air in front of Tsali, blowing his opponent away.

"... Chaos SPEAR!" Shadow turned in midair while swiping his hand, unleashing a burst of yellow energy bolts. However, a cobalt bubble of energy appeared around Tsali, absorbing the Spears before they could do harm.

_This can't be... Even with two Chaos Emeralds powering me, I'm no match for this guy_... Shadow privately thought to himself.

Without warning, Shadow felt himself being picked up into the air by a psychic force, and he was thrown into the building with. Clouds of dust came from the impact area, and Shadow was barely able to get up.

"... This is completely retarded. I have Planet Eggs to go grab, so go suck on shark-sized dildos and do something productive with your pathetic lesbian excuses for existence." Tsali taunted them, and then vanished in a blue flash.

There was a pause. "That bastard called me a lesbian!" Amy angrily shouted, breaking the temporary silence.

"He called _all _of us lesbians." Fang replied to her. Suddenly, there was clapping behind them, and as they saw, a tall cloaked figure was standing on the cliff behind them, clapping.

"Oh God, who is it NOW?" Knuckles asked.

"... Hello there, Sonic." The figure said, directly focusing his invisible attention of the blue hedgehog.

"Seriously, can't you evil motherfuckers take a hint and leave us alone for a little while?" Eric sided with his friends.

"Really, is that so much to ask for?" Sonic also came in.

"I wasn't going to do anything to you. You have nothing to fear. I just came to get something." The figure said.

With a snap of his fingers, the two Chaos Emeralds that Shadow had in his possession appeared in his pale six-fingered hands. "That's all I needed to do for now. But we will see each other again."

"Wait... Give us back our Chaos Emeralds... !" But before Sonic could stop him, the figure teleported away.

The once-torn field was now deathly quiet, and the moon glowed brilliantly in the sky. Everything was at last peaceful.

"Who the fuck was that last guy?" Brian asked.

"... I don't really know myself." Shadow replied.

"No matter what, I say that's enough for one day, Chaos Emeralds or not." Spoke Eric.

"Agreed! Let's get outta here. It was nice seeing you again, Eric." Shadow said.

"Well, I guess so." Sonic added in, giving him a thumbs-up. Eric chuckled a little bit.

"Heheheh, thanks man. And it was great to see you were alright, Shadow, my brotha." Eric said. "Hey, you wanna come with us on the Dreadnought?"

"... Sure, why not?" Shadow unknowingly rhymed with what Eric said. "See you around, faker." He skated off into the distance toward Eric's ship.

"Well, guess that's all for now. See you around, dudes and dudettes." Eric gave a small salute to Sonic, and sped off.

"Yeah, Sonic, we'll see ya!" Sonya waved and left. The others followed her back to the Dreadnought in the distence.

...

Lord Maledict reappeared back from his meeting with Sonic into his exalted throne room.

He returned highly suprised and highly impressed; his own son had defeated Shroud Prime. It was a stunning victory, even to the Devil himself. He did admit that it was slightly irritating that Tsali randomly interrupted, but fortunately, he left before anything major happened.

_Good_, the Dark Lord thought, _Now he won't suspect anything._

...

(dies from typing)

I hope you enjoyed this newest episode.

Next time on Sonic X: Sonic and his friends encounter a Metarex ship, and they soon get into a full-fledged fight with a Demon warship! Will they defeat their newest evil enemies, or will they go down in defeat? And what is Lord Maledict up to? Find out next on Dark Chaos!


	9. Episode 61: Darkness Ascending

This is extremely different from the original episode, and departs from it majorly.

Note: This chapter might seem a little boring because a great part of it is about the Demon Empire and its view on these events. The battle in it is also mostly inconclusive. Sonic and his friends only make a small appearence in it as well. But I still bet y'all will like the ending, since it will herald the return of a familiar face.

...

**Episode 61: Darkness Ascending**

A whole fleet of red egg-shaped assorted militia frigates filled an area of space, battling for their lives against one of their most hated foes; Tsali himself. They were surrounding a huge triangle-shaped space station - their flagship and mobile base - along with a smaller force of cruisers that were several times larges than the frigates.

Tsali was many billions of miles away from them, launching huge salvoes of Dark Chaos Spears that seemed to fill space with blue lances of Dark Chaos Energy. The cloud of ships far ahead of him didn't do anything, a some of the ships detonated into blue balls of energy as they were vaporized.

All of the militia ships launched a salvo of their own personal laser cannons, which homed in on Tsali. However, quite literally, all of the laser blasts that hit him simply glanced and bounced off his skin, without doing anything.

Even though they were silent, he knew that on their side, the enemies were shocked and begging for their lives before his awesome presence, like convicts offering their heads to the executioner in the old Demon style of execution.

The Ultimate Weapon chuckled at their weakness; even with thousands of starships, they could not stop him. Nothing could. _How completely pathetic... They might as well go chew moldy cock in Hell with Astorath and Beelzebub..._

Tsali physically responded by launching even more Chaos Spears. In the distence, even more ships quickly blossomed into spheres of blue fire; a hallmark of Tsali's powers, which used Dark Chaos Energy, and thus, left behind explosions that were blue-coloured, instead of red.

The enemy ships tried one more salvo of laser, which once again were totally deflected by Tsali's sheer strength. _Time to show them just why I am known as the Ultimate Weapon..._

"**CHAOS FLUX**!" Tsali yelled. In that instant, dozens of portals from the dark dimension opened through a rift in space around him, and out of them came spewing countless Dark Chaos Spears without cease or relent. Within barely 10 seconds, Tsali had sent almost a million Chaos Spears towards his foe.

Needless to say, nothing could withstand such a barrage. Indeed, neither could his enemies. Virtually all of the remaining ships, except for the large, triangle-shaped base ship in the middle and the larger crusiers around it, were incinerated in fiery bursts.

Tsali spotted the base ship open up a Warpspace portal behind it, and it along with the other ships turned tail and fled. _Fucking cowards... Angels could fight way better than you..._

However, he was in for a big suprise.

Before the ships could reach the Warpspace point, a huge blue streak sliced through all the ships at once. Tsali could only see a little cackle of electricity before all of the remaining ships, including the mothership, spontaneously combusted in blue blasts.

_What the... I didn't do that! _

Indeed, Tsali was the only one left. Without the excitement of battle and death and glory, the space around him was now silent.

_..._

Lord Maledict was standing in the main bridge of the main base of operations of the Empire, known as Mission Kommand. It was a very large control-and-computer room with a tactical map of the entire Universe on the biggest screen of the wall Maledict faced from a glass balcony above.

The Universe on the screen was depicted as simply a gaint galaxy; the bright sphere in the center was Altus's Domain, where the dead went to the afterlife and where Altus the One true God reigned.

Part of this map was shaded in red; this was the Empire. The other half was shaded in blue; that was the Angel Federation. The middle slice of it wasn't coloured at all; those were the Frontier, where there was almost constant warfare for dominence in the region, and was the main front in the Eternal War for the majority of the Universe's history.

Maledict also knew that it was in that section where Earth, the key to luring Sonic to him, lay.

The Devil, eventually, had an especially malevolent plan for Chris Thorndyke's home planet; for their defiance against the Empire and their judgement to the Federation and Jesus Christ, he would raze Earth without pause until nothing survived. Not even microscopic bacteria would be spared.

Satan was interrupted from his devilish musings when a Hell Knight, a high-ranking Zealot with shiny golden armour and a massively buff chest full of military metals, came forward into the Devil's awesome presence.

"You Majesty, Black Blur is on the line," the Hell Knight said with a bow.

"Good. Get him on immediately." Maledict ordered. Almost before he finished saying it, a browser came on the main screen, and Tsali's image came through in some static.

"Black Blur, you are on the line. Contact repaired. Welcome back, agent," a voice from the control pits below said.

"Tsali! What happened?" The Devil asked.

"_Well, first of all, I just got ambushed by a whole fleet of anti-Demon ships, and then encountered the Metarex and their flagship, DXS Scarship_." Tsali reported.

"Seems like shit has been hitting the proverbial fan lately..." Maledict replied grimly, "Did you manage to link up with any surviving Kommanders?"

"_No, Zir. I haven't heard from Beelzebub in a while. Astorath it on the outskirts of the Milky Way, and that's pretty much all I know. Oh, and I found out what happened to Kommander Varl_." Tsali replied.

"What happened to him, and where is he?" The Demon Emperor asked grimly. Tsali just paused and shook his head.

"... _We lost him. Varl and every single soldier under his kommand are dead. They fought to the last man, just as he said he would in his last transmission. I found him on an outlying backwater system near the edge of the Milky Way_," Tsali reported. Maledict shook his head sadly, yet solemnly and filled with determination.

"Such a fine Kommander and a whole bunch of some of my best troops flushed down the drain..." The Devil sadly stated. "Well, at least he kept his honour, and did not disgrace himself and his name in defeat, but died to keep his nobility. I shall remember him as a major part of our fight against the Metarex traitors."

Tsali cleared his throat, and Lord Maledict cut off his solemn yet overly-dramatic monologue.

"_However, I do have something to note. Most of the soldiers had large puddles of Dark Chaos Energy lying around them. In fact, Varl himself was lying facedown in a pool of the element. Their mortal wounds also had Dark Chaos Energy lining them; thus, they must've been killed by Dark Chaos attacks. It couldn't have been the Metarex, and I didn't do it. Who did this_?" Tsali continued.

The Devil paused, then his eyes went wide with visible apprehension

"_What, what is it_?" Inquired Tsali.

"... No, it can't be..." Maledict muttered.

"_What's going on_?" Tsali asked.

"Tsali, I have a very important question for you, so listen up. Did the enemy mothership that you just faced and its cruiser escort get away?" Maledict questioned.

"_No, Zir. They were attempting to flee through Warpspace, but some kind of huge Dark Chaos Energy cutting attack destroyed them all in an instant_." Tsali answered. Satan recoiled and paused in thought.

"... Then our worst fears have been truly realized; Dark Tails has materialized once again."

"Dark Tails?"

The Devil realize he had forgotten to notify Tsali, and thus decided to be a brief as possible. "Three years ago, our Milky Way forces began to experience strange guerilla attacks by an unknown creature. From reports, this creature was soon identified as a Dark Chaos Being, who began absorbing the Dark Chaos Energy from both his victims and the few Planet Eggs he found along the way."

"Dark Chaos Being? As in, a creature made of pure Dark Chaos Energy?"

"Precisely. This creature was reported as having the shape of a dark-blue kitsune with two tails. Hence the Dark Tails monikor," The Devil explained, and that was when Tsali realize what exactly he was talking about; it was the exact same cobalt fox that Tsali had been defeated by two times before. "After its first several attacks, the creature disappeared, and we all assumed that it was gone for good."

"... Wait a sec, I know who you're talking about! I've fought that same fox thing myself before, and he beat me both times. If you know what it is, what is that creature's power level?" Tsali stated.

"That's the really bad part. According to our zcanners, it's over 9000!" Maledict exclaimed.

"What, 9000? That can't be right!" Replied Tsali. "I have to go find and kill that thing, and fast. I can't have another dark fox running around taking all the Chaos Energy from my Planet Eggs."

_..._

Beelzebub, resting in a tub of soothing acidic oils that kept his sharp, needle-covered skin healthy, was interrupted from his peaceful thoughts by the beep of a video message coming from Mission Kommand.

He was spending time in his quarters of the IRD Kontrol Base, which the humans called Europa, a moon of Jupiter. In fact, Europa wasn't even a moon in reality; the entire "moon" was actually the mobile IRD base, with a planetary crust and surface disguising it from the eyes of the nearby humans and Angels that sometimes patrolled through this system.

It was the safest and best-concealed spot for reconassiance in this major war front.

"Goddamnit, what is it now?" The Lord of Flies muttered. He did not like others interrupting his "me" time, not even if they were Lord Maledict himself.

Since the screen in his persoal room was voice-activated, a video feed of a Navy Kolonel came up on the screen. "_Zir Admiral!"_

Beelzebub sighed in annoyance. "Yes, Kolonel?"

_" I apologize for the interruption," _The officer bowed,_ "I have new orders from Mission Kommand. The Metarex flagship MXS Scarship has finally been detected by Tsali. Lord Maledict wants it turned into space ash, and he explicitly stated that he wants you to do it. Out."_

The message automatically ended. The Lord of Flies sighed as he sat up and fluttered out of his tub, getting his personal flagship ready.

"So much for my 'me' time and tender thoughts..." Beelzebub said to himself. He fluttered out of his quarters to the hanger of the IRD base.

The hanger was a giant, dimly-lit room positioned very deep underground. It was cluttered with everything from fighters and aircraft to whole battleships. In fact, the entire room was so large it could fit up to 6 battleships.

And _only_ six battleships, because those behemoths were massive ships and could still barely fit in the room anyway.

On his order, his own personal cruiser had been taken to the "Ready" area, just below the hanger opening in a shaft that led to a camoflauged hanger door on the surface.

His cruiser, the DSS_ Stinger_, was a sharp contrast to the intimidating, dagger-shaped regular ships of the Demon Imperial Navy. It was an elegant, grayish warship that looked like the major Metarex battleships, which were indeed designed after stolen designs for the ship.

It was armed with hundreds of anti-ship laser cannons, missile pods, and two extremely powerful hypermatter incinerator cannons, each powerful enough to quite literally destroy a small moon-sized world with a single salvo. Along with it, it was also armed with the standard Demon heavy plasma turbolasers, capable of vaporizing enemy ships with a single shot, that were found on all Demon warships.

Its most legendary feature was a cloaking device, specially created by the master Demon technicians. It rendered the ship completely invisible to all forms of detection, including radar, sonar, thermal, X-ray, Gamma-ray, and Angel "Mandiator" lock-on devices.

The _Stinger_ was primarily designed to make a devastating suprise on the enemy, hitting hard and fast, and then slipping away before the enemy could retaliate.

It would work perfectly for taking down the MXS _Scarship _(formerly DSS _Scarship_), a devastating super-warship that was stolen from the Demons after the Metarex rebelled.

It was a secret next-gen battleship project spearheaded by the IRD's Sector 6 research sublevel designed to outpace and outgun anything it came in contact with, and it was to be entirely remote-controlled. However, the Metarex stole the prototype and put in an AI so that they literally made the ship itself one of their commanders.

In response to this souring loss, Beelzebub immediately made a counter-weapon, the _Stinger_, that was designed to exploit all of its weaknesses and turn them into strengths while keeping all the standard features such as massive firepower and ultra-fast speed.

"Give the order for it to take off as soon as I'm aboard." Beelzebub ordered one of the technicians on the ground floor.

He started to make his way towards his ship, ready to kick some robot Metarex ass.

...

On the other side of the galaxy, a while later than all the events taking place on the Demon side, Sonic and all his friends were cruising in the Blue Typhoon, unaware of the plots and plans unfolding around them; for now.

"Hey guys, are there any Metarex or Tsali around near us?" Sonic asked. Tails checked all of his scanners.

"Tsali is on the other side of the Galaxy, but... Hold on... wait a second, there's something coming out of Warpspace not too far away from us!" Tails reported. A screen of Warpspace areas came up on the bridge, and a large portal had appeared close to the Typhoon's position.

"What is that?" Knuckles asked.

Soon enough, his question was answered; out of the portal, a sleek, elegant battlecruiser with a plethora of weapons and two glassy command windows serving as "eyes", flew out.

"That's a Metarex! It's their command ship, the MXS _Scarship_! We should get outta here, before he turns hostile!" Cosmo exclaimed.

"_Scarship_?" Tails asked.

"Yes, that's the name. It was originally an experimental next-gen Demon battleship, but the Metarex stole the prototype and turned it into one of their commanders." Cosmo explained.

"How do you know all this stuff...?" Amy asked.

"Never mind that! Cosmo is right. If it's really that strong, then..." Sonic started to say, but he was interrupted by a piercing robotic voice being played from the Metarex battleship.

**"... Blue Typhoon! I am Scarship, a leader of the Metarex. On the orders of Dark Oak, I demand that you hand over Tsali the Ultimate Weapon at once, or I will forced to open fire."**

Knuckles manually opened a com channel with the Metarex ship, and decided to vent his rage. _"For the last time, Tsali isn't on our fucking ship!_ _When will you stupid assholes get the hint?"_

"... Knuckles, there's children in here..." Sonic muttered, glancing at Cream, but the echidna did not heed him.

Tails, deciding to interrupt Knuckle's rant, decided to make video contact in order to show himself up close and prove once and for all his identity. "Knuckles, shut up and let me do the talking. Scarship, what my crewmate is trying to say is that I am not thetwo-tailed fox that you are searching for. My name is Miles "Tails" Prower, and I'm a young fox from Mobius."

There was a pause as the internal camera of Scarship's AI looked on the Typhoon's bridge and everyone in it

**"Is that... Cosmo the Seedrian?"** The loudspeaker commented.

The young planet girl stood up courageously. "Yes, I am here, and these are my friends. They helped me when I crash-landed on their planet."

Yet another pause, and then; **"... Then circumstances have changed completely. If you have Dark Oak's daughter on your ship, then that means Tsali cannot possibly be there. I must leave and notify my leader about this development."**

Before the mighty warship could turn and leave, another portal, this time to the far right of where Scarship and the Blue Typhoon were heading towards each other, came out of Warpspace. Also, it was visible to the normal eye as well.

Out of this portal came an unusual ship. It looked like a gray version of Scarship, but minus the Metarex eyes and plus two intimidating blood-red Satanic pentacles on the hull, giving it a considerable demonic appearence.

Scarship, switching its attention to the Demon ship, turned hard right to come to bear on the new enemy. It instantly lets loose with hudnreds of small laser blasts and missiles.

However, when they made their mark, all of the missiles fell dead in their tracks from anti-missile signals, and all of the lasers glanced off and were blocked by the Demon ship's armour alone.

The Demon warship responded with its own attack; instead of attacking with sucky lasers as Scarship did, it unloaded with gigantic beams of crimson energy that lanced towards Scarship faster than the speed of light.

It was all too effective. Scarship's armour began to melt from the plasma heat, and most of its weapons were instantly turned to molton slag from the sheer firey aura of the blasts. This ship was quickly taking care of the Metarex flagship.

In the course of barely a minute, Scarship was more or less a floating hunk in space, on fire from cosmic flames that could even burn in the oxygen-less vacuum of space. It's engines were also gone, leaving it for dead at the mercy of anyone who wished it gone.

The Demon ship was preparing to finish it off, when its job was done by something else.

Before it could do anything, Scarship was suddenly hit by a lightening-fast blue Dark Chaos beam from out of nowhere. The entire ship was sliced in half, and quite simply, fell apart into a hulk of space junk. Cosmo did recall hearing a loud scream of some kind come from the ship's AI, but she wasn't sure.

Just ahead of the Demons, yet another Chaos Beam shot through the ruins, this time aimed at the Demon ship. Once again, it was successful. The front part of the ship was sliced open, though the beam stopped there instead of completely slicing it in half. Through the split, chains of explosions came out of the ship.

The Demons, not wanting to take any chances, somehow activated a Warpspace portal from a drive while they were still turned away from it. Before the next Chaos Beam could hit, they turned around and just managed to escape.

On the bridge of the Typhoon, the entire Sonic Team seemed to be put in a hypnotic trance by the events that just spiralled out of control in front of them.

"So, what do we do?" Cosmo asked, breaking the deathly quiet that shrouded the bridge. Sonic and Knuckles looked at each other apprehensively.

"... We're getting outta here. Now." Tails said, starting to activate the Warpspace driver. Everybody agreed with him.

...

As the Typhoon turned around and warped away, they did not notice another Warpspace portal, but this one a dark-blue instead of yellow.

Out of this portal came the familiar pupiless dark fox that everybody was hunting down at the moment; Dark Tails. The fox surveyed the scene of devastation; pieces of space junk floated everywhere.

The fox narrowed his eyes, and saw that everything was good in his ultra-malevolent eyes. He disappeared in a blue flash.

The God of Darkness reappeared on a dusty world that could be described as a desert, except that it was covered by storm clouds and it was mostly a dust planet. He was standing on the edge of a giant chasm.

Holding out his hand, the entire mountain started to literally glow blue temporarily with the power of Dark Chaos, the incredibely rare power which the Demons called _Korruption_, but was more widely known as Dark Chaos Corruption. Indeed, it was the force of corruption that started to literally inhabit the very mountain itself.

Out of the nearby entrance to the fortress, across a mighty bridge, came a group of undead Demon Hell Knights. However, their skin had turned from a grayish tone to a dark-blue scheme, and their tiny eyes had turned into larger dark masses. Additionally, they all had several Dark Chaos Energy spikes growing out of their backs and Shroud limbs bursting from their skin; a symbol of their corruption and infection.

What Dark Tails had done was simple; he had resurrected the Demons and had put them under his unshakeable control, through the almighty power of Dark Chaos Corruption.

The Hell Knights strolled towards the Dark Kitsune and bowed before his presence. Behind them, from the various hangers of the fortress, Dark Tails spotted numerous aircraft taking off, including two Demon frigates and a cruiser.

Several armoured platoons also rolled across the bridge connecting the fortress to the chasm, and assembled themselves in front of the God of Darkness.

Finally, the leader stepped out. A red-skinned Hell Knight, wearing a blood-red cape and a chest full of military medals, strolled out of the fortress behind his troops; the undead form of what used to be Kommander Varl. He still looked almost the same, unlike his soldiers; the only thing that was different was the four Dark Chaos spikes sticking out of his back, and his arms had been turned into Shroud tentacle appendages.

Dark Tails turned around and he morphed into a puddle of blue goo, waiting for his chance to strike.

...

Dun dun dun! (shot, stabbed, nuke'd)

That last part kinda gives you goosebumps, doesn't it? Anyway, I actually have the next chapter ready (it's one I've been planning and preparing for some time now), so the next update might not be too far off.

But I probably will take a break and update on my other stories a bit, so then again, it might take a little while.


	10. Episode 62: Light and Dark

Now THIS is an Episode I've _seriously_ been itching to write - er, type. Trust me, you'll see why. Of course, it's partly because of the all the moments that makes this Episode one of the most crucial of the entire story developments.

...

**Episode 62: Light and Dark**

_On the Seedrian colony ship GSS Dandelion, in one of the transit hallways, Cosmo was on one of the flat conveyor belts extending along the stretched periphiral hallways._

_Several members of her clan passed by her, saying hi and greetings like that; one of her older sisters Hortesia, and her best friends Chrysanthemum and Lilac. However, when she got to the drop-off point, she found who she was looking for; her older sister, Galaxina._

_"Galaxina!" Cosmo greeted. Her older sister was a tall woman with a beautiful white flower adorning her head, and she had blue hair with purple eyes. She was also wearing a blue dress._

_"There you are! You had me and Mother worried all afternoon." Galaxina stated with a big smile on her face._

_"Oh, I'm sorry. I was causing a couple problems, and I got a little careless." Cosmo replied._

_"Hey, cheer up," Galaxina said, chuckling, "We're all getting used to that."_

_Cosmo didn't say anything, but she crossed her arms, and she let out a slightly angry grunt as her expression darkened._

_The two two of them strolled through a door to their right, and soon came upon the guiding force of the clan; the plant form of Hertia, former Chieftess of the Seedrian Royal Family. Inside a dome-like room, a huge healthy tree was growing on a massive podium, silent, and still. Long ago, she supposedly had changed into a tree to survive, and had been in that form ever since._

_"Hello, Mother!" Cosmo greeted. _

_"Yes, Mother, I found her!" Galaxina added. Even though the tree occasionally did talk via telepathy, it was silent. The was a pause, as if the two female Seedrians were waiting for it to reply._

_"Hey, just a question that came to my mind; what do you think Mother likes to think about?" Cosmo asked._

_"I do not know." Galaxina replied, turning to her younger sister._

_"Maybe she dreams about our home planet. I sure do." Cosmo replied._

_"Yes, and I'm sure Mother does too. The thought that we might go back there brings great comfort to her." Galaxina stated, her tone starting to sound a little sad._

_"But why can't we go back? Why do we have to flee through space?" Cosmo asked._

_"We have no choice but to flee from the very being that destroyed our planet, and to flee from the Devil that controls him." Galaxina replied._

_"Devil?"_

_"Yes. Don't you remember the legend of Tsali?" Galaxina was the one who asked a question this time._

_"Of course. How could I forget?" Cosmo prepared to recite the story. __"You said that, years ago, our home was invaded and wiped out in the Great Tribulation, In the midst of the Great Tribulation, Tsali came, and promptly destroyed our home in rage against our species. He was very quickly pressed into service by the Devil, and the Devil sent him out to exterminate anything that remained."_

_"Yes, very good." Galaxina praised._

_"But, wait, if we are fleeing from the Tsali and the Devil, as you call him, then is that story not a legend, but a true account?" Cosmo asked._

_"Only Mother knows for certain. That is why we must flee through the Milky Way Galaxy; according to her, we must obtain forgiveness for our sins." Galaxina replied._

_"But what sins? What did we do wrong?" Cosmo asked. _

_Galaxina shook her head slightly. __"Maybe when you're a little older, you'll understand."_

_"Oh, okay." Cosmo finished._

_"Now, let's get going. We have stuff to do today." Galaxina said,going out of the room. But Cosmo paused._

_"Oh yes, and goodbye, Mother, see you later!" Cosmo said a farewell, and promptly followed her older sister out of the room._

_..._

_Cosmo was thrown back against the wall by a powerful blast. The whole colony shook, and pieces of the walls and ceiling were crumbling around her body. The ship, her home, lay dying in the cold and cruel vastness of space. The bridge of the ship, along with most of the storage areas, had been completely vaporized by salvos of blue blasts of Chaos energy._

_But something even more cruel and cold was just outside the ship, decimating it piecemeal. Outside, Tsali, the very one they had been running from for so long, was doing the very thing he had planned to do all along. His quest was nearly over; most of the Seedrians on the ship were dead._

_Cosmo frantically ran down the hallway into the reactor core, trying to find her sister Galaxina. She soon found her all right, but not in the way that she expected._

_Down the corridor, far in front of her standing on the lip of the reactor, was Tsali himself, with Galaxina being choked by his robotic hand._

_"Tell me where Hertia is!" Tsali commanded in an unnaturally cruel voice._

_"W-W-What are you talking about?" Galaxina desperately tried to plead with her greatest enemy. Tsali simply tightened his grip, nearly choking her to death._

_Cosmo, scared for her life, was too stunned and horrified to move._

_"I don't have time for you, little cum-filled dildo! Now, where the fuck is she? Tell me, and I might let you live!" Tsali yelled at her again._

_"I don't... Please..." Galaxina once again pleaded._

_"**For the last time, where the fucking hell is she, you jackass?**" At that moment, Galaxina managed to look around, and spotted Cosmo in frozen terrified stance, just down the hall._

_**"COSMO, RUN! GET OUTTA HERE!"** Galaxina shouted to her sister with all of her strength. However, Tsali also looked back. __Cosmo felt an icy wave freeze over her body as she and Tsali locked eyes, and the Ultimate Weapon smiled._

_He briefly turned his head around, and glared at Galaxina, who froze immediately in horrified fright. But then, he lightly smiled._

_"Nevermind." Tsali stated, once more glancing at the doomed Galaxina. Suddenly, a small glittering blue knife appeared in his hand. Without any hesitation, he took it and plunged it straight into Galaxina's left eye, the blade going straight through her skull and prompting a deathly scream of agony that haunted Cosmo forever._

_With a tightening of his grip and a terrifying, sickening crack that resonated through the room, Galaxina the Seedrian's neck had been shattered, killing her instantly. _

_Tsali promptly threw her lifeless, bloodied body behind him with no effort or remorse whatsoever. His gloves were stained with her blood, but he wiped it off in seconds, almost like he didn't even notice it was there._

_Cosmo instantly tried to run, her heart pounding, but the emergency door in the hall shut and locked itself in front of her for apparently no reason. But Cosmo realized, much to her horror, that Tsali did it, with his murderous powers._

_The young girl slowly turned around; Tsali was standing about 6 feet in front of her._

_"So, you are Cosmo, the princess of the Royal Family? Lord Maledict will be most pleased by your death. As will I. I hope that His Majesty will at least provide you with plenty of disembodied dicks so you can fuck yourself to pass the time in Hell." Tsali said blankly. _

_But then, he smiled with sheer, genuine, unadulterated cruelty the could shock even the Devil himself._

_A huge blue flash resonated into Cosmo's eyes, and everything was darkened, as a piercing scream filled her ears. The last thing her senses picked up was an unnatural laugh, one that wasn't Tsali's. A cloaked figure appeared in the darkness in front of her._

_**"Yes, Cosmo, Tsali was korrect; it is time for you and your entire species to go BURN IN HELL!"** With a snap of his fingers, Cosmo's entire body felt like it was being slashed in half, slowly and painfully, with a giant saw. Cosmo tried to scream, but no air came out. Her lungs had been crushed, and most of her organs had exploded._

_She also noticed that the floor had disappeared under her; a giant sea of "liquid hot MAG-ma" (as the Devil would most humorously say) appeared below her._

_"**To Lake Gehenna with you, just as your mother**!" The figure said triumphantly. With another snap, Cosmo was falling to her death._

_The young girl desperately tried to shut her eyes. There was nothing that could save her now..._

_..._

Cosmo's eyes snapped opened and she gasped in surprise. She had been having one of the constant dreams about Tsali and his crimes.

The young girl was standing on a grassy field next to the Blue Typhoon. Tails and Knuckles were standing a few feet away. Tails was armed with a couple climbing tools, along with a heavy laser pistol he had for defense

"The Chaos Emerald is somewhere around here... But I can't locate it!" Tails communicated to Chris.

"That might be because it's in a certain other place, like underground or underwater." Chris replied.

"Well, then let's not just stand here twiddling our thumbs, let's look for this thing!" Knuckles impatiently stated. The picture feed of Chris changed to picture feed of Sonic.

"Yeah, hurry up down there, will ya?" Sonic said. Both Tails and Knuckles gasped from the surprise.

A plane quickly flew overhead; the X-Tornado. Chris, Cream, and Sonic were in (and on top of) it. Tails waved to them as they passed by.

"Hey everybody, good luck in finding it!" Cream yelled from above.

Up in the air, the three on the X-Tornado looked over their friends. However, Cream also noticed a particularly sad expression on Cosmo's face, even from this height.

"Poor Cosmo. I wish there was something we could do for her," Cream mused.

"We are trying to do all we can, but sadly, it's very difficult to change. Tsali, the one who butchered her family, is still killing, and now we realize there are even _worse_ forces behind all this," Chris replied to Cream.

...

A few minutes later, the trio of Tails, Knuckles, and Cosmo were all inside the ruins of a town near a mountainside; apparently the site of yet another of Tsali's grisly massacres. Skeletons of various beings, bleached by the sun, were laying about the ruined buildings, and some were even jutting slightly out of the ground.

"The Planet Egg's gone, and according to this report, every inhabitant was killed about 20 years ago; men, women, children," Tails grimly reported as they strolled through the ghost town.

"Tsali is behind all this..." Knuckles muttered as he strolled with them. They all came to a pause under an arch as Tails investigated where to go next.

While he was doing it, Cosmo stared sadly at some of the ruined buildings and skeletons.

"People once lived here. They worked and lived out their lives. Children once played here without a care in the world..." Cosmo muttered like an emo.

The horrid flashbacks started flooding back into her head; Tsali, mostly.

_Tsali is behind this massacre, along with his slaughter of my older sister and mother. I wish to fight him so badly to avenge them, but I know I cannot. Besides, even if I somehow managed to defeat him, it wouldn't bring them back..._

"Sometimes, I miss them all so much..." Cosmo once again muttered. However, Tails, standing a few feet away from her, heard it.

"... What?" Tails asked. Even though he didn't see it, Cosmo's cheeks flushed pink as she hunched her head.

"Oh... Nothing." Cosmo hurried.

"Hey, take a look at this, Tails!" Knuckle's voice came from a few yards away. The duo rushed over to his position.

The came upon the edge of an endless dark abyss, the bottom completely shrouded in a curtain of shadow.

Knuckles, for the heck of it, threw a large rock into it. A few seconds passed by, and there was no sound of it landing. Tails checked his bearings.

"Aha! The Emerald is somewhere in the gorge," Tails deduced.

...

About a minute afterward, they were investigating this rock formation. Knuckles was climbing down the wall, Tails was using his tails to slowly lower himself and Cosmo down with his flight ability.

"Look, over there!" Cosmo called out. Indeed, not too far below them was a rock ledge, with a cave hollowed out in the rock.

"Let's check it out." With that, Tails and Cosmo landed on the edge, and cautiously strolled into the cold, dark void. The faint sound of dripping water could be heard from within.

"I can't see a thing!" Cosmo said as she moved along they wall ahead of Tails. Suddenly, she felt a metal object on the wall depress under her hand, and several lights came on it. The Seedrian gasped.

"What is it?" Tails asked.

"I don't know, but I think I just pressed a..." Cosmo said as she started to take a step backwards...

... Too late. With a mighty shake, the cave started to collapse, and the floor opened up from below them into a connecting chamber. Dust and rock rained everywhere.

The young kitsune spotted a huge rock about to crush Cosmo.

"Cosmo!" Tails cried out, leaping at her. With sheer speed, her pushed her out of the rock's way, saving her life. Unfortunately, this also sent them sprawling into the fissure in the floor.

Tails could only let out a scream before shock overtook him, and he blacked out.

...

The fox woke up not too long later. The very first thing he saw was the beautiful blue eyes of Cosmo, staring at him with great concern and worry. The cavern they were in had small pools of water in the corners, and had bright crystals glowing around the walls.

"Ahh... What happened?" Tails asked, sitting upward. A sharp, throbbing pain filled his senses as he felt a large cut on his forehead; blood slowly pumped out of it, some of it staining his white glove when he tried to touch it.

"Wait, don't move!" Cosmo desperately said. Tails looked upward; in the roof of the cavern, there was a crack, in which light filtered through.

"That's odd. We fell through the floor...?" Tails asked himself.

"I'm so sorry. If I hadn't pressed that button, none of this would have happened," Cosmo apologized.

"Don't worry, this might actually be a good thing. It's unusual that a button was there in the cave; something must be hiding here," Tails checked the signal of the Chaos Emerald. It was still there, and was much stronger.

"We're still getting a signal, so it has to be down here somewhere. Let's go!" Tails said, but Cosmo held him down.

"Wait! Let me patch that wound up," Cosmo said, taking out a white cloth as a bandage.

"Cosmo, I'm fine, don't worry." Tails tried to assure her.

"No way, I'm not leaving any of my friends to get hurt," Cosmo vowed as she tied it around his head. However, when she finished, she noticed that Tails's cheeks were red.

"Hey Tails, what's wrong? Your face is red," Cosmo asked. Tails smiled and giggled nervously.

"Well, uhhh..." Tails stuttered. Cosmo laughed a little.

"It doesn't matter. C'mon, let's keep going," the Seedrian said happily. She started to walk farther into the cave. Tails followed her through, still feeling embarrassed.

Cosmo had always admired Tails, and sometimes, she even thought he was pretty cute and smart as well, despite the fact that they were almost the same age.

_But why do I think he's so cute...? _As that thought came to her, her face turned a moderate red colour, though Tails did not notice it.

Something in her body and her mind seemed to react to it, but she didn't quite yet understand the emotion she was feeling.

_..._

Inside a massive cavern, deep within hundreds of layers of bedrock and iron, lay a giant Metarex factory. The metallic parts were coloured a dull-purple, making it partially blend in with the cavern, and it was mostly suspended over a giant chasm.

One of the most secret, and important, Metarex bases in their tiny control, this factory was charge of researching the sources of Chaos Energy, both Light and Dark.

As such, they had both kinds sealed in storage containers. Light Chaos Energy, which provided warmth, happiness, and peace, appeared as floating spheres of light.

Dark Chaos Energy, meanwhile, was the exact opposite of Light Chaos Energy; it was extremely radioactive to organic beings and provided mutation, corruption, and evil in general. It appeared not as floating specks of light, but as a growing blue liquid gel, usually electrified and glowing. However, it could actually also appear red and green, rather than just blue.

The factory's primary function, however, was the study of captured fake Demon-made Chaos Emeralds, often used by their troops and found from the dead Demons that were killed in the Metarex Uprising.

Since they were used to such great effect by Tsali, they immediately became subjects of interest and possible exploitation.

But unfortunately, the wealth of Chaos Energy made it a rich target.

...

Tails and Cosmo were walking through the dark cavern. The duo had just figured out that their radio connection to the Blue Typhoon had been cut off.

"I'll modify my receptor once he get out of this cave. It's useless if there are certain places where it doesn't work," Tails said.

"Yes," Cosmo replied blankly as they walked, though in reality, she wasn't paying much attention.

"Better yet, I should invent a whole new research device. Chris's shoes gave me a whole new idea. If..." Tails started to go on a happy rant about his new idea, not realizing that Cosmo was wrapped up in her own thoughts.

_I've been so foolish. How could this happen to me?_

The Seedrian girl kept walking on as she heard Tails keep ranting in the background.

_Everything I do seems to backfire and make things so much harder. I keep putting them all in danger._

A memory came to her; the very first fight between Sonic and Tsali on Sonic's home planet months ago. Then, it came to her in the X-Tornado with Tails, watching Tsali escape with their planet's Planet Egg.

_Sonic's Planet Egg would never have been stolen if I never arrived, and then, he and his friends would never have been dragged into this mess._

A final vision came to her; a serene landscape of grass, trees, and cosmopolitan skyscrapers.

_All of these buildings..._

Suddenly, there was a huge flash of blue, and everything was decimated; the land turned scorched and barren, and the buildings had been turned to blackened rubble, with small blue fires coming from their ruined remains.

_...Have been reduced to ruins._

"It's all my fault..." Cosmo muttered sadly, tears starting to well up in her eyes.

"Cosmo?" The pure voice of Tails ringed in her ears. Suddenly, she felt like almost all of her bad memories had been gone, and her tears immediately faded at his soothing voice. The Seedrian did not get why that was, but even then, she brushed it off, came to reality, and saw Tails standing right in front of her with an embarrassed look on his face.

"Sorry I bored you with my whole mechanics speech," Tails apologized.

"No, it's not what you think!" Cosmo hurriedly replied. "Here me out. It's _my_ fault we're trapped here."

"Don't worry, it'll be alright. Even if you don't feel safe with me," Tails replied. Cosmo almost looked shocked by what he said.

"No, not that at all! I'm sure you're someone to rely on." Cosmo praised him. Tails's expression softened sweetly.

"Really?" Tails asked.

Cosmo smiled and blushed in reply. "Of course! I'm sure!" However, their touching conversation ended by the suddenly appearance of a horde of tiny lights coming up from the ground that floated in the air around them.

"Hmm?" Tails asked. Cosmo simply stared at them in awe. The tiny light started to form a swarm, and in a line, they started to fly further down the tunnel.

"Let's follow them!" Tails said, and both he and Cosmo ran after them.

After only a few turns, the lights had led them into an amazing place. In front of them was a gigantic cavern with numerous dull-purple factory buildings suspended from it and attached to the various walls.

"Whoa..." Tails exclaimed in wonder.

In front of them was a bridge with a sign over it that had unusual language printed on it. Both he and Cosmo prepared to infiltrate the base.

...

Unaware to either of them, however, they were being watched.

A shrouded figure was kneeling on a tiny rock ledge far above the bridge to the factory, its eyes tracking Cosmo and Tails.

"That's...!" The figure said in a mature female voice; she was a woman.

She stared after Cosmo as she ran into the factory, totally oblivious to the figure's presence.

"...No. It's way too dangerous to go in there. I have to keep an eye on her." With that, the figure pulled off her hood.

To the shock of everyone else who would know about her, the figure was, indeed, an adult female Seedrian, like a taller version of Cosmo.

Her hair was black, and the buds in her hair were unhealthily black and wilted from stress. One of her eyes were purple; the other was a blood red. Nearly half of her face was scarred from battle, but she still retained the great beauty of a young adult female Seedrian. Finally, her skin was considerably more pale than Cosmo's skin, because of the fact that she did not go out in the sun much. The outlines of her eyes were slanted, giving her a considerably more sinister appearance than Cosmo and other kindly Seedrians.

Instead of wearing a coloured dress like all of her peaceful countrywomen, the girl was wearing a black combat suit with combat boots, and had a large sharp scythe that was attached to her back, along with an assault rifle and other weapons.

The woman paused momentarily before leaping off the ledge in a graceful jump, landing on the top of a storage cylinder quieter than a mouse.

She was ready for anything that would harm her last living heir.

...

Inside the factory, Tails and Cosmo peeked around a corner.

Down the hall past them, they spied a purple snakelike Metarex robot carrying a long sharp spear patrolling the corridor.

"I don't think I've ever seen this type of Metarex before..." Cosmo whispered to Tails.

"But aren't they trying to protect you?" Tails recalled.

"Yes, but don't forget, the Metarex are programmed to think that you are Tsali, so they'll attack us on sight."

"Then we should sneak through this quietly." Tails suggested, and Cosmo nodded in reply.

The robotic guard obliviously patrolled right around them. "Now!" Tails whispered. He and Cosmo scurried across the corridor behind the Metarex guard, still completely undetected.

The next corridor, however, had a guard that was advancing towards them. The duo hid behind a wall so that when the guard passed them, he did not see them hiding. As soon as the Metarex had passed, they took off quietly down the hall and into a large room.

To their shock, this room was filled with storage capsules, each containing a fake Chaos Emerald. The one in the middle, however, was real.

"They're all Chaos Emeralds! But only this one is real," Tails said, quietly opening the middle one and taking the Chaos Emerald out, giving it to Cosmo.

Suddenly, just as they took it, a blue flash erupted throughout the corridor and the storage room room.

Outside, Tails and Cosmo watched through glass in horror as, without warning, all the patrolling guards paused, screamed in pain with their metal faces contorting in terrible grimace, and were instantly vaporized in blue bursts.

Along with that, all the fake Chaos Emeralds in the other storage pods seemed to all turn from their respective colours to a rocky brown, and then literally crumbled into dust just like normal rocks.

Just after they watched, they heard a deep echoey laugh sound through the area, sounding somewhat like Darth Vader's breathing but faster and slightly higher-pitched.

Cosmo and Tails both remembered where that kind of laugh was from.

"This way!" Tails said, and ran out of the opposite exit from where he came with Cosmo.

...

The fox and the Seedrian both walked into a two-story room with a huge container of Dark Chaos Energy in the center, with more pods of the gel-like element around the walls. Cosmo was holding the Chaos Emerald in her hands.

Tails and Cosmo paused in the corridor forming the upper level of the room. However, the former stopped his panting and looked curiously at the Dark Chaos Energy.

"This is the same thing we saw on that jungle planet..." Tails spoke, getting a quick scan of the substance for further information.

Just then, Cosmo noticed something; there were no alarms or warning sounds anywhere. She was mystified as to how they had done all that completely undetected.

"What is that stuff?" Cosmo asked.

"That is Dark Chaos Energy. It is the negative power of the Chaos Emeralds in its most pure form. There is also Light Chaos Energy, which is the positive aspects of the Emeralds. When Light Energy is used, it is always used for good, because only good can come from it. But whenever Dark Chaos power is used, the power turns into something dark and destructive. Coincidentally, pure Dark Chaos Energy is highly radioactive, and extremely dangerous even in very small doses. In contrast, Light Chaos Energy has healing properties and can cancel out Dark Chaos Energy, though it is much more difficult to use." Tails explained.

The kit noticed that Cosmo was looking sadly at the Chaos Emerald, with tears welling up in her eyes. Tails walked close to her.

"Hey, what's wrong?" Tails asked, noticing the sadness in her eyes. Cosmo looked up at him with depressing eyes.

"I... I shouldn't be holding a Chaos Emerald, then, if that is the case," Cosmo replied.

"But why?"

"Because my mind and heart have been filled with hatred for years! Hatred for that two-tailed monster that murdered my family! If that kind of anger would tap into this power that you speak of..." Cosmo replied, sniveling a little bit.

However, then, Tails did something unusual. He hugged her tightly in his warm, furry arms. Cosmo returned the hug, her face burning with blush. All of her sadness simply seemed to fade away in that instant.

"Don't worry. I promise that nothing bad will happen," Tails calmed her down. Cosmo suddenly smiled and closed her eyes, as more tears came down, but these were tears of happiness. The two of them parted finally.

"Thanks. But even still, now that I think about it... Something doesn't feel right..." Cosmo stated getting back on track, wiping away her tears.

"Whaddya mean?" Tails asked.

"Haven't you noticed that no alarms have activated? That we went through all that totally undetected?" Cosmo replied.

"Oh yeah, now that I think about it. That's really really weird. But it doesn't matter now. What matters is that we gotta find a way outta here," Tails stated matter-of-factly.

The duo ended their conversation and pressed forward.

...

Meanwhile, high over the atmosphere, a sleek red-and-black spyplane flew at lightspeed over the planet. It was taking a scan of the underground, so as to relay that information to its Demon superiors.

The pilot, a young Vagary Demon, took the scan and got out is COMlink. Even though he was one of the few such Demons in the SpecOps division, he was still highly respected for one in his lowly-ranked caste.

Other lower-ranking SpecOps ones like himself were known as _Sonder-Kommandos_, the Kommando members drawn from the lower castes. They were the main grunts of the IRD's SpecOps secret police division, known as the DKVD.

The Kommandos were infamous the Universe over for their brutality, cruelty, and their coldly professional skills alone. That was why they were the perfect shock troopers for hunting out the enemy and being elite saboteurs and scouts.

"Kobra Leader, this is Space Viper One. Sonic and friends have been detected," the Vagary reported in Demonish.

"_Clear copy Space Viper, this is Kobra Leader. Moving to Sector 98735 now_." Another Demonish voice replied.

The spy plane made a hard bank right and flew away, disappearing into a tiny Warpspace portal as it did so.

...

As Tails and Cosmo ran into a large storage room containing several capsules of Dark Chaos Energy, one of the largest storages of the dangerous element was glowing and slowly shrinking as it was absorbed by something. In a few seconds, the whole thing disappeared.

Behind it, as Tails and Cosmo saw to their disbelief, was the very dark fox they had encountered on the jungle planet with Amy and Cream.

The fox stopped levitating, putting its feet on the ground, and slowly strolled from behind the capsule, into the plain sight of our heroes.

Cosmo, slowly and carefully, hid behind Tails, who prepared a battle stance to protect her. The dark fox paused and stared at them silently.

"What do you want?" Tails asked forcefully, breaking the silence. The fox did not reply, for it did not have a mouth, but only kept staring at them.

However, in a new expression, the kitsune's eyes did narrow a bit, indicating that it was either angry or making a smug look. A deathly quiet hung over the room, except for the bubbling sound of Chaos Energy coursing through the dark fox.

The enemy appeared to close his eyes for a second, and then, to Tails's horror, he noticed that a bright-blue energy ball had formed in the fox's gloved hand.

Miles, without thinking, grabbed Cosmo by the arm, immediately started spinning his tails, and lifted her into the air.

Just in time, for just as he went into the air, a wide shotgun-like blast of Dark Chaos Spears just barely skimmed Cosmo and started breaking the wall into chunks.

"Here, Cosmo!" Tails called out quickly, taking Cosmo to a high ledge. He dropped her off, where she gave him a very quick embrace.

"Just be careful," Cosmo worried. Tails fluttered down onto the battle floor, with the dark fox in tow.

Once more, the Dark Kitsune's eyes narrowed in disgust. But then, they relaxed, and the dark-blue kit slowly levitated into the air. The fox threw its head back as if in laughing, and indeed, from its mouthless muzzle came the unmistakable laughter of the God of Darkness.

Tails drew his laser pistol and opened fire, a white-hot laser blast expanding towards the dark fox. However, a blue bubble shield formed around the enemy, and the blast was absorbed.

Suddenly, a blue blue lightening bolt came from one of the containers and struck the pistol in Tails's hands. He dropped it in a yelp of pain; it suddenly became too hot to touch.

The pistol bounced around on the ground as Dark Chaos Energy seemed to come into its systems. Soon enough, it cooled down on its own; the pistol was now infused with Dark Chaos Energy.

Tails held his new weapon in his hand, seeing that now, he had great power on his side. He took a glance at his dark copy, who was preparing another Spear salvo.

As the salvo came, Tails flew right over it and, in a very _Matrix_-like move, fired as fast as he could at Dark Tails. Even though it attempted to put up its bubble, the blasts went right through the shield, and the dark kitsune flew back a little bit from the impact.

_Now I see... This fox, despite being a Dark Chaos Being, is in fact vulnerable to Dark Chaos Energy itself! Of course!_

"Alright, whoever you are! Now, you'll see what I'm made of!" Tails challenged bravely.

The dark fox seemed to roll its eyes in aghast, and then, it let out a longer version of its evil laugh.

"... What's so funny?" Tails asked.

All of a sudden, before Tails could react, the laser pistol flew right out of his hand and was thrown across the room, and before he could go over to get it back, Dark Tails appeared in front of him, instantly grabbing the fox by the neck.

Tails desperately tried to struggle against the freezing-cold hands of his dark alter-ego, but he couldn't possible break his hold.

As Miles Prower struggled, he finally stopped when he felt an incredible stabbing pain fill his chest. He barely was able to look down to see what it was; a parasitic tentacle had come straight up from the ground and had stabbed him. His vision was starting to fade too, and his hearing became dull and florid.

Tails felt his whole self go numb as he felt something strange and slimy being literally injected in his body, and he saw his entire being flash from a yellow-orange to a dark-green repeatedly.

Dark Tails suddenly let Tails down, and the young kit fell to the ground, twitching and moaning in extreme pain.

"No, Tails!" Cosmo cried out in worry, to no avail. The Dark Kitsune prepared the final blow against his adversary.

But before he could, Cosmo and Tails heard a rushing wind from the ceiling. As if on cue, a tall figure with a black cloak suddenly flew in from the ceiling, spinning a huge scythe like it was a chainsaw.

Dark Tails, obviously surprised, stumbled back as the scythe cut through its skin. The pieces of the skin fell off in chunks of blue flesh, and underneath the skin were visible patches of Dark Chaos Energy itself in its pure appearance forming the muscular structure.

However, in a few seconds, all of his wounds regenerated. But Tails's life had been saved.

Dark Tails looked around at them both menacingly, and then, he let out one final haughty laugh before his body split apart and disappeared in millions of dark-blue atoms that filled the room.

Now, the brief battle of the ages was over. Cosmo slowly glided down onto the floor, using her petal dress to slow her fall, and landed softly on the ground. She immediately rushed over to Tails.

"Tails! Wake up!" Cosmo shook the boy. But Tails was unconscious and breathing very slowly.

"Don't worry, Cosmo. He'll be alright," the cloaked figure said. Cosmo stood up and looked at the woman.

"Oh yes, and thank you very much for helping us! Who are you, though, and how do you know me?" Cosmo asked.

In reply, the figure threw away her cloak. To Cosmo's great shock, the figure was actually an adult woman Seedrian, one of Cosmo's species, whom she thought to have been almost totally wiped out except for Cosmo herself. Her hair was black, and her eyes were hybrids; one of them were purple, the other was a blood red. Her skin was a deathly pale, and part of her face was seriously scarred. She was wearing a black combat suit with tall boots, and Cosmo spotted several weapons slung over her back.

"A Seedrian?" Cosmo asked.

"Yes, Cosmo. My name is Venus the Seedrian. I know you for obvious reasons, for after all, Tsali has laid waste to our once-proud species, has he not?" The dark woman asked.

Cosmo remembered it all too well, but fortunately, none of the bloody memories of her past came to her mind.

"Yes, of course! You are after Tsali too?" Cosmo asked brightly. Venus just sighed and looked down upon her countrywoman, for Venus was considerably taller than Cosmo thanks to her age.

"It seems we are both out for revenge against someone. But I am not after Tsali. Since he killed your clan, he is your target. At first, I was, but now I know who really is behind all of this." Venus stated solemnly, starting to walk away.

"But wait! If I'm gonna get him, who are YOU after?" Cosmo asked. Venus paused for a second, as if in hesitation.

"... That information will come to you in time. Oh, by the way, I think you dropped this," the adult Seedrian said, holding up the Chaos Emerald, which glowed slightly in her hand.

Venus tossed it back to Cosmo, who caught it gently in her hands.

"Keep it secret, and keep it safe," Venus advised, "I will see you again, Cosmo. May Altus's unabating light shine on you."

"You're going already? Why don't you come with me and my friends?" Cosmo asked.

"I'm sorry, I can't. But I wish you well. DOMA CONTROL!" With that, Venus the Seedrian vanished in a flash of green light.

Cosmo was interrupted from pondering the visit by a fellow Seedrian when she heard a soft moan coming from the ground behind her. She spun around; Tails was awakening, and slowly getting up.

"Ouch! What happened? Where's that dark fox guy?" Tails asked.

"He's gone," Cosmo replied. She figure that she would tell him about Venus later.

Both of them were once again stopped from going on when they heard a loud _CRASH!_ come from the ceiling. At once, the familiar figures of Knuckles, Sonic, Amy, Cream, and Chris all jumped down into the room, with a ladder in tow to get back up to the surface.

"There you guys are! We were so worried about you!" Amy exclaimed.

"I'm fine, Amy!" Cosmo assured. Sonic and Knuckles, meanwhile, walked over to Tails, who was still stumbling a little, and they noticed his condition and the bandage on his head.

"Hey man, what happened to you?" Knuckles asked.

"... Got a little beat up," Tails replied with a little stutter and an embarrassed smile. All three of them chuckled.

...

In a couple minutes, all three of our heroes were on the surface, and walking towards the Typhoon, talking. However, in front of Tails, Cosmo stopped for a moment.

"What is it?" Tails asked. Cosmo turned her head a around, but smiled sweetly and winked at him.

"Thank you for all you did back there," Cosmo once again thanked him. Tails could feel his face going hot.

"Hey, don't mention it!" Tails replied. Cosmo giggled and went back to the ship, with Tails in tow.

_It was really sweet that she thanked me for helping her..._

_..._

Lord Maledict finished typing down his plans that he would remotely to Tsali's central nervous system.

_"The MXS Tryphon, main headquarters of the Metarex, has been identified around coordinates 5 by 666 north-delta-west. Fleet detachments from 502nd and 687th Legions are ETA fourty-eight hours. You are hereby ordered to support their assault and to find if any of the Metarex leaders are aboard the station before it is to be destroyed. Failure is not an option. __/end message/"_

The Devil, with the push of a single button, pinpointed Tsali's specific identity code in his database. Certain Demons in the High Kommand were equipped with experimental cybernetic chips that could send and recieve data. The same concept also applied to Tsali, thanks to the extensive Demon technology making up his biology.

"It is time to finish what I started thirty years ago. With the Metarex finished, Tsali shall truly become my Ultimate Weapon."

...

As the Blue Typhoon left the planet and jumped into Warpspace, a cloud of blue atoms appeared and came together into one being; Dark Tails, once again.

Along with that, several red Warpspace portals appeared; several Demons cruisers appeared behind him.

As the Dark Kitsune turned around, all of the Demon ships opened fire with every weapon they had. Seemingly billions of missile trails and plasma streaks filled space on their approach.

But alas, they were futile.

As electricity danced along his skin, Dark Tails opened up with a giant magnetic storm of Dark Chaos Beams, which appeared as blue lighting bolts.

As trillions of them spread into space over the planet and started to corrupt the very atmosphere of the planet, all of the missiles combusted and all of the plasma cannon blasts fizzled out.

In barely two minutes, all of the lightening arcs had charged right at the cruisers. Massive blue slashes appeared in their hulls as the powerful Demon alloy was ripped to shreds in instants by the sheer power of Dark Chaos Energy.

All of the enemy ships collapsed into glowing blue dust as their hulls simply turned to ash and were blown into the vacuum of space, or started raining towards the glowing planet below.

As his enemies fell apart (literally), Dark Tails looked down at the planet; thanks to his Chaos attack this close to the world, the atmosphere started glowing a brilliant blue as giant specks of pure Dark Chaos Energy started spreading over the planet, killing and corrupting everything in its path.

The planet had now been corrupted, thanks to the awesome power of Dark Chaos Corruption.

As the fox paused and looked down upon his handiwork from above, if one was nearby, they might have been able to hear the Dark Kitsune's thoughts.

...

_This is undeniable proof that I..._

_... Am the master of the dark. My knowledge is incomparable. There is no being and will never be a being with as much knowledge as me. For I am..._

_... the Alpha and the Omega, beginning and end. It began with me, and it shall end with me. No one can stop me, not even the prophesied Chosen One... _

_Miles Prower. The Chosen One. Some say that he is wise beyond his years, and that nothing can escape his sharpness. But he is blind, because he..._

_... Cannot and does not see what I truly am. _

_He does not see me as himself. But that is not all he does not see..._

_... For before this, I was something else. Only Satan and Allysion and can see me for who I am..._

_That is the reason that I am; I can create organisms that can drain the very life essence of entire planet, and, given time, entire galaxies. They are the Shroud, my divine appendages, the scourge of all races..._

_... With the power of Dark Chaos and the Shroud, nothing can escape my grasp._

_For as I know, only the eyes of the Devil and God can see..._

_... What I am. And what I once was._


	11. Episode 63: Assault on the Tryphon

This is the beginning of the huge Metarex base battle, which will be even MORE huge in this remake. It won't be as long of a chapter compared to the others, although there will be a certain grudge match that I am sure many readers have been waiting for.

...

**Episode 63: Assault on the _Tryphon_**

On the tall purple ship known as the Egg Crimson, a loud radar beep filled the bridge of that powerful corvette. The ship, at the moment, was hiding behind a large asteroid.

"Dr. Eggman! Our scanners have detected two Chaos Emeralds! They are on that giant planet." Bokkun jubilantly exclaimed.

Around the asteroid, away from the ship, was a gigantic green spherical battle station, made up of what seemed like giant looms of dull-green metal sections weaved together, giving the fortress an elegant, foreboding appearance.

"Hey, that isn't a planet!" Decoe yelled.

"Of course not. It is a giant Metarex base. According to the records, this fortress is the MXS _Tryphon_. Formerly, it was actually an experimental Demon mobile battlestation known as the DSS _Omnipotent Hierarch_." Eggman stated.

"Wait, so you're saying that this is a Demon battlestation that was stolen by the Metarex and then finished by them?" Rouge asked.

"Yep," Eggman replied, in all of his geeky glory.

"Great! But we still have to go through that thing to find the Chaos Emeralds." Bokkun spoke.

"Hey, hold on! There are two radar blips around this asteroid field." Becoe said, putting them both on the screen.

Immediately, a striking blue-yellow-white space frigate and an imposing yet elegant green dagger-shaped warship appeared on two different screens, both of them also hiding behind asteroids.

"Why, it's the Dreadnought and the Blue Typhoon!" Eggman exclaimed joyfully. _Maybe they can help a bit..._

...

Eric and his friends were talking around the bridge, trying to decide on the course of action.

Just a minute ago, they had tried to see what the defense system on that station was by throwing a small asteroid with the cargo claw. Before it had even cleared the asteroid, many small beams of yellow light vaporized it in an instant.

"Holy shit nigga, that bitch got a powerful defense," Eric said with the obvious poor grammar that hallmarked his favourite way of talking.

"Even though I bet we could actually destroy it with a single blast from the Eric Driver..." Sonya muttered, but only Nack and Shadow heard her.

"You know, Sonya, that whole Eric Driver idea might not be such a bad idea after all." Nack stated.

"Indeed," Shadow reinforced Nack's opinion.

Everybody was interrupted from their conversation by a message coming up on the screen. The familiar jowly guise of Dr. Robotnik appeared with a big smile.

"Hey, it's my old friend Fatass! Whaddya want?" Eric asked.

"The last two Chaos Emeralds are hidden inside the Metarex fortress. I think we should become allies momentarily to get them, don't you think?" Eggman stated.

"Well, sure. If that means that we can all survive..." Eric replied.

"Great, it's a deal, then." The main screen shut off.

"... Eric, I think we'll regret that later." Sonya stated.

"We don't really have a choice. What do you suggest we do?" Mighty stated.

Eric just stood there and pointed at Mighty. "What he said."

...

The young fox known as Tails sat up from his bed in a cold sweat, in his comfortable but definitely not lavish quarters on the Blue Typhoon.

He had recently been having nightmares about his parents and his life before he met Sonic, when he was shunned by everyone and everything. Tails hated the memories more than anything. But they didn't usually come to him as much as they did this time. They usually came to him only in times of extreme stress or serious depression.

Tails felt his whole body shaking, and his hands vibrating. An endless pit in his stomach seemed to form, and all of a sudden, he started to feel nauseated.

The young it looked at his hands for a moment; to his shock, they seemed to get wrinkled and had various dark-green veins showing in a web underneath his skin. Intense light started to flash in his vision, making him dizzy and disoriented for a moment.

"Ugh... What the..." Tails muttered.

As quickly as it came, however, it left him. Tails's body returned to normal, and he didn't feel anything anymore.

He was stopped from pondering the mysteriousness of his condition when a familiar red echidna stopped by the door to his room.

"Tails! Come up to the bridge," Knuckles said, and then ran away. Tails slowly got up and followed him, his shoes clanking on the metal floor.

Soon, tough, they both came upon the bridge. Tails noticed immediately that they were in fact hiding behind a large brown asteroid.

"Hey guys, why are we behind an asteroid?" Tails asked.

Sonic, replying to him, put up a picture of a large metal green sphere out in space just around their position.

"Whoa! What is that?" Tails asked.

"It's a Metarex base, the MXS _Tryphon_. Like most of the Metarex ships, it was once a Demon battlestation, the DSS _Omnipotent Hierarch_, that was stolen and redesigned." Cosmo explained.

"... How do you know everything about Metarex ships?" Amy asked.

Cosmo just shrugged a little bit in reply. "I know many little things about the Metarex, like their tendency to steal Demon ships and then rename them."

They were halted from their discussions by the face of Eggman appearing on the main screen.

"Listen up, cause I'm not gonna repeat myself! The remaining two Chaos Emeralds are inside that base. Since we can only get them together, I suggest we become allies for a little while, don't you think? Eric and his crew have already agreed to help." Eggman presented his ultimatum.

"Well, you do have a point..." Amy said.

Sonic stood there rubbing his chin for a few seconds. But then, he straightened up.

"Done." Sonic finalized.

"Great! This is how we'll do it," Eggman began to explain, "Eric and Shadow will lead a group of us right into the fortress using Chaos Control. They will deactivate the security systems and defense network. During that time, another group will immediately go in and find the Emeralds. Then, we can all escape before they have the chance to get their systems back up."

"But what about the two Emeralds? Does each group take one?" Knuckles asked.

"Whoever finds them first keeps them." Eggman presented a new challenge.

Sonic smirked; he always loved races, because he _always_ won. The picture of Eggman then switched to a picture feed of Eric and Shadow.

"For my group, I'll take Nack, Sonya, and Mighty." Eric chose.

The picture feed once again changed to Eggman, "Well Sonic? What is your choice?"

Sonic pondered for a few seconds.

"I'll take the X-Cyclone with Tails. Amy and Cosmo can go in umm... Amy's new starfighter. Knuckles, you stay on the Typhoon with Cream so you can back us up." Sonic said.

"But why do I have to stay behind?" Knuckles shouted.

"Because you can contol the Master Emerald in case we need to use the Sonic Driver." Amy retorted. Although the echidna grumbled, he knew that she was right.

"Don't worry, this isn't gonna take long." Sonic assured with a flamboyant wink.

"Okay then, it's all settled! Let's get to work!" The picture feed of Robotnik cut out.

...

With a flash of green, Eric's group of mock commandos appeared in a corridor of the station. All of them, with the exception of Eric and Shadow, had weapons slung over their backs.

"So Eric, where is the main control room?" Shadow said. Eric, on a small mini-map on his wristwatch, marked the spot.

"It's somewhere in the equatorial quadrant. And fortunately, we're really close to it." Eric replied. "This way!"

"How coincidental..." Nack/Fang murmured as he ran after Eric down the green corridor.

In barely a minute, the group had finally entered the command center; a small room filled with control panels.

"So... Which one deactivates the defenses?" Mighty asked.

"Hmmm... Aha!" Sonya suddenly exclaimed, running over to a particular group of panels in the corner. She started hacking into it, though neither Eric nor the others could tell how she was doing it.

On the screen, when she finally stopped, the message "**Defense System Offline**" appeared in large lime-green letters.

Sonya straightened a little and strolled slowly towards Eric, giving him a little peck on the cheek as she walked past.

"Done." The young female hedgehog cooed.

"Ummm... Great! Let's contact Sonic!" Eric stuttered, opening up a link. "Sonic, this is Eric! The defense system is down. You're cleared for approach. Good luck."

"Good job Eric. Hey, do you think that you could find the Planet Egg in this fortress too?" Sonic's voice replied. Eric and his companions exchanged apprehensive glances.

"How do you know there's a Planet Egg?" Nack asked.

"All Metarex bases have a Planet Egg they use as the power source," Cosmo's voice replaced Sonic's.

"Well, okay. In that case, we'll see if we can find it. Eric out," Eric replied.

...

Near the core of the fortress was a figure checking various systems, partially hidden by the shadows of the dimmed core.

And this figure was, of course, the great Dark Oak himself, in the power armor. He was talking to Red Pine, the leader of the Metarex Fleet, and one of his fellow Metarex leaders.

"Red Pine! We have unconfirmed reports of Demon ships massing near the _Tryphon_ and our main computers are being scrambled. We need you to reinforce the station with your fleet in case of an attack. We don't know if Tsali is nearby, but if the Demons are preparing an attack, he is most likely close."

_"Clear copy, Luke. Be there in ten."_ The voice of Red Pine replied, and the radio shut off.

As Dark Oak neared finishing his transmission, he suddenly heard the characteristic screech of a certain fox's teleportation ability.

Looking around, even in the darkness, Dark Oak saw who it was. "You gotta be kidding me..."

"Luke! How's it been ol' buddy?" Tsali addressed Oak by his real name.

"Why did you come? You shouldn't have come here." Luke spoke. Tsali chuckled.

"Yeah, and yo momma shouldn't have come all over your waist in bed last night! PWNED, BITCH!" Tsali retorted with a laugh, "Anyway, I'm in a little bit of a push here. You have the Seven Chaos Emeralds, and Lord Maledict needs to have them. So... yeah. Where are they?"

Dark Oak shrugged angrily, which was difficult to do thanks to his armour. "I should have killed you when I had the chance, because I am having enough difficulty finding Cosmo as is."

Tsali just smiled; he knew where Cosmo was, meaning that, as always, he was one step ahead of his enemies. Apparently, the armored Seedrian noticed Tsali's expression. "... Oh no... You... didn't..."

"Are you so sure of that?" Commented a very tall cloaked figure that rose from the shadows behind Tsali.

Dark Oak brandished his Emerald Sword at the sound of the voice. However, before he could do something, his whole body was pulled forward like a ragdoll, right into the cold grasping hands of the cloaked figure. "Dark Oak, you disappoint me," the figure stated.

"Who the hell are you?" The Metarex leader asked. The figure pulled up the hood on his cloak. If anything, even Dark Oak was shocked by who it was.

"It's been quite a long time," Lord Maledict, now visible in the dim light of the giant chamber, spoke.

The Metarex leader didn't reply, but instantly vanished out of the Devil's grasp. Tsali could tell that Maledict was not impressed one bit.

Luke reappeared some feet away, and immediately charged them with his sword. However, his charge was suicidal; just as he was about to slash, he was blown away by a powerful red spiral of Chaos Energy that appeared from thin air. The Metarex leader flew about twenty feet in front of the dastardly duo, skidding across the metal floor.

Tsali casually stepped in front of his archenemy's crippled form, extending his hand right at Luke's head. "The Ultimate Weapon has come for you, Luke!" Tsali prepared to blow the Seedrian apart with a barrage of Dark Chaos Spears.

Luke suddenly looked up at him and growled, "DOMA CONTROL!"

Three Dark Chaos Spears launched from Tsali's hand... and blew several small craters in the metal floor, with no Luke in sight.

"Fucking shit..." Tsali desperately looked around to see if the Seedrian had simply teleported somewhere else in the chamber. However, the Metarex leader had disappeared completely.

The fox felt Maledict's freezing-cold hand on his shoulder, calming the android down slightly.

"I have sent a fleet of my most powerful warships to destroy this station. Without the _Tryphon_, Luke and his Metarex are essentially finished. I need to personally access some critically vital information that I believe is in this station's main computer before my fleet arrives. I also sense Sonic and his friends are approaching fast. Keep them busy until I am finished," Maledict ordered.

"What is so important about this information you're looking for?" Tsali wondered aloud.

The Devil glared at him, "This information is classified beyond top secret; that is, for my eyes only."

...

Meanwhile, closing into the inner areas of the fort, Tails and Sonic were flying in the X-Cyclone with both Amy's starfighter and the Egg Mobile following behind.

As Tails flew around in what seemed like the vast web of the station, Sonic was simply looking around and marveling at the architecture. It seemed more like a void of green spider-webs than a real fortress, like a tangled mass of connecting corridors and areas.

"We're coming upon a service corridor! It'll lead straight to the core! Hang tight!" Tails said. He maneuvered the plane into a small opening deep inside.

Unlike the rest of the fortress, this hall was a standard monochrome, not green like the exterior. It was surprisingly large, and it was easy to fly a plane through, especially for a seasoned pilot like Tails.

In a few minutes, the mock convoy of starships exited the tunnel into a gigantic dark ejection shaft, at least as wide as the Blue Typhoon was long. Underneath them lay the bottomless abyss of space itself. Well, eventually, that is.

"Hey, up there!" Sonic suddenly spotted a group of Pterodactyl-like robots flying down the shaft straight at them from above.

"Metarex!" Amy exclaimed, and fired the cannons on her ship. Small laser streaks extending right towards the Metarex, who attempted to dodge. However, the blasts hit them anyway, and the stricken robots went plunging down into the blackness.

"Daaaaaaamn! How deep is that shaft?" Bocoe asked.

"I don't know, but I don't think we wanna find out." Decoe replied.

"The core is just above us." Tails yelled, and sped up his plane so that it didn't take as much time. However, as he did so, the nauseating feeling that Tails had before struck again, but this time, about five times worse.

Tails entire body shivered like he was in some kind of violent orgasm, and his breathing became low and shallow. To him, everything seemed to go in slow motion for a couple of moments as his heart hammered in his ears and his adrenaline level skyrocketed for a moment.

"Hey Tails, what is it buddy?" Sonic asked from the backseat, noticing Tails's condition.

And just like last time, it vanished randomly, just as quickly as it came.

"Uhh... Nothing." Tails said, taking a deep breath, and resuming his flying.

...

In only a few minutes, they had reached the core area; a giant, dimly-lit room that was more like a huge solid dome with a couple small buildings inside of the dome itself.

Tails and Amy landed their own craft on the flat floor with relative ease, thanks to the hover mode installed on both of them. The heroes jumped out of their craft and looked about. Eggman also appeared, though he simply floated around in his Egg Mobile with Decoe and Bocoe.

Also at that moment, Eric and his group of friends also appeared in a bright-green flash.

"So, where are the Chaos Emeralds?" Sonic asked to Eric.

"Here they are." Cosmo shouted, standing by a couple of glass cases filled with water seated on pedestals. Two Chaos Emeralds were contained in them.

Using apparently instinctive knowledge of the Metarex control systems, Cosmo shut down the containment around the Emeralds. The water from inside drained into the pedestals, and the glass cases opened up. Cosmo grabbed both of the Emeralds in her hands.

"Great, we win! See, Eric, I told you I was the fastest thing alive!" Sonic taunted. Eric grumbled a little and sighed.

"Hey, look up there." Sonya exclaimed, pointing up to the ceiling.

To everybody's surprise, in a large crystal ball mounted on a tall pedestal, was the Planet Egg that controlled the fortress and its power supply.

"It's a Planet Egg," Eggman spoke. "They must be using the Chaos Energy inside it to power this fortress."

"I'll go get it," Eric said, about to jump up. However, he and everybody else were interrupted by the sound of a familiar black fox teleporting in.

**"I don't think so!" **Tsali pointed at our heroes. His black Dark Emerald was in his hand.

"Tsali, you damn bastard!" Cosmo yelled angrily at him. Eric, Shadow, and Sonic glanced questioningly at Cosmo; they had never heard her swear before.

Tsali just grinned expectantly, seeing his archenemy so defiant. "I didn't think a Seedrian could be that skilled or resourceful... to delay my reckoning for so long."

"You're gonna pay for all the people you killed and all the planets you desolated!" Sonic challenged him. and Eric also approached.

"Tsali, your pathetic little killing spree ends right now!" Shadow also challenged, walking right up next to Sonic. Tsali chuckled at the "killing spree" reference.

"Hey man, killing people aint cool!" Eric also spoke, also placing himself beside Sonic.

Both of the hedgehogs looked at Sonic, who in turn, looked at them.

"Shall we?"

At that moment, like a bunch of rainbow butterflies, all of the Chaos Emeralds started to glow brightly and levitate in the air, floating slowly towards the trio.

Sonic, Eric and Shadow all put their hands on each other's, like they were about to do a team cheer before a sports game.

"_The Seven Chaos Emeralds are the Servers_!" Eric quoted the lines of the famous Chaos Prophecy, and looked at Shadow.

"_Chaos is Power, Power enriched by the heart_!" Shadow replied, and both of them looked at Sonic.

"_The Controller is the one that Unifies the Chaos_!" Sonic finished.

By now, all of the Chaos Emeralds were spinning rapidly around the trio, giving them strength. All three hedgehogs looked upward and prepared to yell. "**Our power is one!**"

With that shout, the three hedgehogs were totally bathed in a bright light, blinding all from view for a few seconds.

When the light faded, everybody stared upon the trio.

The hedgehogs had harnessed the full powers of the Emeralds; Super Sonic, Super Shadow, and Super Eric. Sonic now had yellow fur, Shadow now had gold fur, and Eric had bright-silver fur. All three of them had red pupils, and their quills pointed slightly upward. All three of them also had bright gold (and in Eric's case, silver) auras around their skin.

The three super-hedgehogs all looked at Tsali, who was completely unimpressed with their transformation.

"Oh please. Your little _Dragonball Z _ripoff move won't save you," Tsali spoke, levitating into the air with his Dark Emerald floating above him and a cobalt energy sphere around him, "My vengeance ends now!"

Extending his hand, Tsali was about to unleash a collection of Dark Chaos Spears... Until, faster than even Tsali could react, Eric teleported and flying-kicked him from behind. Tsali, completely unprepared, cried out in pain as he was blasted forward.

But his pain would not stop there. Before he hit a wall, Shadow had teleported in front and hit Tsali in another direction like a game of volleyball.

With Sonic into the mix, the battle became simply a pummeling match, until all three of them drove Tsali into the floor with a single massive three-way punch.

The Ultimate Weapon crashed into the metal floor, cracking it somewhat. With a teleport, Tsali was back on his feet, still resistant and stubborn as ever despite the power of his three opponents.

"THAT'S IT!" The Ultimate Weapon screamed at the top of his lungs, gathering every remaining bit of Dark Chaos Energy he could possibly muster, from his own Dark Emerald and all of the Chaos Emeralds.

Instantly, he cried out in a loud voice - ironically, just like a _Dragonball Z_ character - and an enormous aura of cobalt light shone around him. Giant azure lighting bolts shot out at Sonic, Shadow, and Eric. The entire room began to vibrate as if there was an earthquake from the sheer magnitude of Tsali's stand.

The bolts of lighting began glowing as they penetrated the three hedgehog and literally began sucking the Dark Chaos Energy from their bodies through the tendrils, drawing them into Tsali's own form. The android fox promptly noticed his backup Dark Chaos Energy batteries recharge to their full capacity.

By the time he had finished, his three hedgehog opponents were on their knees, panting and wheezing from the energy that had just been sucked out of them. Tsali, meanwhile, was all charged up and ready to go; in fact, his body was still glowing blue from the overcharge.

The android fox laughed sadistically over his disabled enemies, bathing in his limitless dark power. "I am Tsali, the Ultimate Weapon! My fury is unstoppable!" He yelled at his enemies, his voice now echoing like a god.

However, unknown to any of them, from the background, Cosmo clasped her hands in prayer, using her hope and emotions to channel Light Chaos Energy to the hedgehogs via the Chaos Emeralds. Sure enough, the Emeralds scattered around began to glow; faint at first, and then slowly became brighter and brighter as Light Chaos Energy began siphoning back to them.

Tsali and the hedgehogs didn't even notice it until the Emeralds came to float around the hedgehogs like bubbles. That is, until Tsali noticed his Dark Chaos batteries begin to very gradually decrease.

And that was when Tsali realized who was doing it; Cosmo was using her prayers to recharge his enemies, and at the same time reduce Tsali's own power by naturally canceling out his Dark Chaos Energy with Light Chaos Energy. Within seconds, Sonic, Shadow, and Eric were back on their feet and back into their Super forms.

"CHAOS TORRENT!" Tsali shouted. From his hand, a cyclone of Dark Chaos Energy swirled right towards the three Super hedgehogs.

Though Sonic and Shadow were ready, Eric hadn't noticed that it was aimed right towards him. Before even he could react, the cyclone slammed him backwards every which way before it fizzled out. Fortunately, thanks to his Super form, he was still up to the fight.

"You're mine!" Sonic flew forward as lightning speed. Before he connected, however, the Ultimate Weapon jumped out of the way. While he wasn't looking, Shadow fired several regular Chaos Spears at him; they slammed into the robot fox's backside.

However, Tsali didn't even grunt in pain. Instead, he spun around and launched a very quick Chaos Superblast at Shadow, which hit the Super hedgehog square in the torso and sent him crashing into the wall.

Sonic came at the black fox again; once more, Tsali apparently was ready, and he blocked the attack as he spun around facing Sonic. Tsali immediately sucker-punched Super Sonic right in the face.

"GAHH!" Sonic recoiled back from the blow. Even though he was in his Super Form, the thick metal-reinforced fist of the Ultimate Weapon was still extremely painful.

Shadow teleported in front of Tsali and unleashed a hyper-speed kick combo. Using his own hyper reflexes, Tsali blocked all of them with his metal arms. Then, it was Shadow's turn; he also recieved a crippling metal punch in the face courtesy of Tsali's power.

The black fox came forward for another hard blow; before he hit Sonic again, Eric launched a Chaos Superblast that hit Tsali square in the back, causing him to stagger forward and distracting his attention. The beam of Chaos Energy had depleted his energy reserves quite a bit, although Tsali didn't notice it at the time.

Eric, sensing that his foe was weakened, flew at him again, but he was stopped dead by a concussive blast of Dark Chaos Energy from Tsali, which was then followed up by a series of hyperspeed punches and kicks that nearly left Eric out of the fight before he was distracted by Shadow coming at him.

Funny thing is, none of the others watching the fight could really tell what was going on, because the three hedgehogs and Tsali were moving and attacking each other at such high speeds.

Before the two-tailed android could unleash another attack, the three hedgehogs appeared together a few meters in front of him.

Tsali remembered his low energy levels, and thus began charging himself up once again. Unfortunately, even the omnipotent power of his Altus Emerald had difficulty canceling out the Light Chaos Energy used by Sonic and friends, and thus did not have too much effect.

"That's enough! Now, you are done for!" Shadow yelled. All three of the hedgehogs began to glow brightly with power.

"What _now_?" Tsali asked with an apathetic sigh.

He was suddenly interrupted by all three hedgehogs screaming out **"SUPER TEAM BLAST!"**

All three hedgehogs instantly launched themselves at Tsali in sync. However, all three of them were stopped by a fast Chaos Shield. They struggled, and the cobalt bubble bent in response to their force, but still held firm.

Their enemy smirked; they couldn't penetrate his defenses. That is, until he noticed something on his HUD. His Dark Chaos Energy battery monitors were flashing bright red.

Tsali knew all too well what that meant; his opponents' attacks and Cosmo's prayers had drained his Dark Chaos levels too low! His Chaos Shield promptly vanished, unable to sustain itself from lack of power.

The Ultimate Weapon was only able to let out an "Oh shit" before the three hedgehogs were spinning all around him, pummeling him and buzzing into him mercilessly for what seemed like forever. Without giving him a single chance to defend himself or strike, the three hedgehogs slowly beat his metal body to a pulp. Not only that, but the Chaos Energy they were letting off also amplified their attacks, physically damaging him even more.

Finishing the job, Shadow and Eric launched a Chaos Superblast at a large beam high above them. Taking parts of the weakened metal ceiling with it, it loudly fell upon Tsali's stunned body and crushed him underneath a ton of debris, the noise echoing through the chamber.

No movement; he was most certainly gone now.

"Yeah!" Amy and Cosmo cheered for their Chaos-powered friends. Sonic high-fived Tails, Eric, and Shadow, "That was TIGHT!"

"Perfect as always." Shadow replied.

Cosmo and Tails looked at each other. "We did it, Cosmo!" He winked at her, and she couldn't help but blush.

_**"... RAAARRGGGHHH!"**_

The pile of metal on the floor was instantly blown away in a blue flash, and Tsali slowly rose to his feet, looking nothing like he did before. His black fur, humanoid eyes, and skin were completely gone; his brilliant chrome exoskeleton was fully visible, his visible eye cameras still glowing a brilliant azure. He looked like a fox version of the Terminator, which would be the best way to describe it. Dark Chaos Energy charged and sparked around his metal body.

"... This guy just doesn't give up, does he?" Shadow murmured.

Cosmo took a step forward towards Tsali, surprising everybody, until she wstood before the battered android.

"Tsali, I've had enough of questions. Now, I want answers. Why do you want to kill me so badly, and why did you kill my family?" Cosmo demanded.

Tsali raised his head up and spit a large glob of blue blood-saliva at her, striking her in the middle of her face. "Fuck you!" His voice now had a distinctive microphone background, since his vocal cords had been damaged.

All of Cosmo's friends gasped at his absolutely sick gesture as Cosmo wiped the blue liquid off of her face like she couldn't fathom what he had done. However, that shock promptly transformed into rage.

"Shut up and answer me now, or I swear to God I will tear you to pieces with my bare hands!" Cosmo screamed at him with tears in her eyes, causing nearly everyone to stare at her blankly. Her friends had never seen her so angry before.

Before she could realize her enemy's tactic, Tsali teleported forward - a few inches in front of Cosmo - and clamped his metal hand around Cosmo's neck. Cosmo desperately tried to struggle in vain against Tsali's suffocating grip, staring into the robotic eyes of the one who had killed her family.

From the background, Fang the Sniper loaded up an armor-piercing bullet into his rifle and carefully aimed at Tsali's head, making sure that he didn't shoot Cosmo by mistake.

BANG! His aim was true; the bullet sailed straight through Tsali's cranium, penetrating the armor and exiting out of his upper neck. The fox staggered backward, gripping his head in extreme pain, and letting Cosmo out of his grasp.

**"That's enough, all of you!"** Another voice came from the shadows behind Tsali. Before she could move away from her archenemy, Cosmo was suddenly blown backwards by a powerful red shunt of energy that came from out of nowhere, and she flew back to the wall.

"COSMO!" Tails yelled, flying upward. He managed take flight with his tails and catch her before she hit the wall, saving her from harm. Cosmo blushed as she stood upright when she straightened out of his arms.

"As he finished, a short figure who was totally shrouded in a hooded black cloak appeared from the darkness next to the silvery android fox.

"Tsali, I thought I told you to slow them down... not kill them," the figure turned slightly and admonished. One of the figure's hands began glowing bright red with energy; within several seconds, Tsali's whole body was enveloped with bright red light. When it dissipated, he was back to normal. His skin, eyes, and fur had completely regenerated.

"What the fucking shit?" Eric cried out incredulously.

The figure was about nine feet tall. His legs appeared to be reptilian, although they were mostly covered by glimmering gold-and-red armor plating. His visibly shriveled six-fingered hands also poked from his satanic robes. Everyone also noticed a bright red pentagram emblazoned on the front.

"I have so awaited this moment when I could lay eyes upon you once again, Sonic the Hedgehog. You have certainly become a great warrior indeed, and you ability to use Chaos Energy so well astounds me."

Tsali stood up, and he smiled as he backed away.

"Who are you... and how do you know who I am?" Sonic asked. Tsali looked up at Sonic a little bit, and smiled.

"Who am I, you ask?" The figure pulled up his hood, revealing his unholy face. "... I am Lord Maledict the Devil, God of this world."

...

Eric: On the next Episode of Sonic X, it's the epic battle to save everything from not just Tsali, but also from the Devil himself! Even with their Super forms, Sonic, Eric, and Shadow are no match for this new enemy! Will Sonic and his friends prevail, or will Satan emerge victorious? Find find out next on SONIC X!


	12. Episode 64: Master of the Emeralds

Newest chapter. This is the epic mid-season battle.

...

**Episode 64: Master of the Emeralds**

A deathly quiet swept over the room as our heroes bathed in the presence of the Evil One himself, in the flesh and in the cloak directly from Hugh Hefner's wardrobe. Satan spread out his bunched cloak, partially revealing the shimmering goldon armour hiding underneath.

"So you are the Enemy..." Chris stepped forward and commented, feeling the Devil's gray eyes pierce through his soul.

"... Ah yes, your stupid monkey friend managed to get out of his cage," He venomously taunted the lowly human boy, "That is why I should have gotten rid of you hairy vermin millenia ago. Consider yourself lucky, human, that I haven't had the chance."

The tall hedgehog-humanoid snapped his bony fingers, and a bright flaming vortex appeared between the human and Satan. Chris flinched and stepped back in surprise, although it didn't do anything nor was Maledict actually trying to hurt him.

Now, Amy stepped forward to challenge the Devil. "Leave him alone, you monster!"

Maledict just closed his eyes and smiled. "Of course, Miss Rose. Forgive my dishonorable behaviour in the presence of a fine young woman such as yourself." Snapping his fingers again, the vortex disappeared. Amy couldn't help but smile somewhat, seeing that Satan had actually just complimented her like a true gentleman.

However, Sonya would have none of it; she instantly pulled out her dual plasma katanas in rage. _"Kusu o taberu na!__"_ The female hedgehog cursed in her native tongue as he sprinted with all of her bravery at the Devil himself.

"Wait, Sonya-chan! What are you doing? Stop!" Eric fruitlessly called out after her.

Sonya completely ignored him as, just a few meters in front of Satan, she leapt high into the air towards the Demon leader with her swords poised to kill.

Beyond that, the next few seconds seemed to happen in slow-motion; just before she got close enough to decaptitate him, the Devil's own gray plasma blade appeared and activated in his hand. Instantaneously, he spun around and slashed a single time, aiming right at her middle.

The attack connected as Sonya was thrown away through the air into the wall from the blow, her stomach revealing a massive smoking burn wound.

"... Fucking... hell..." The young hedgehog dragged herself up, clutching her battle wound.

"Oh my god! Are you okay?" Amy exclaimed, running to her friend's side.

"... I'm fine, really..." Sonya took her hand away and looked at her slash wound, "But I'm gonna need this patched up..."

"You know, I could have taken off your head with that attack and killed you instantly, but you're very lucky I held back on purpose." Satan explained.

_"Omee tada no bakamono da! Damare!"_ Sonya retorted, pointing at her enemy. Satan raised his six-fingered hand and snapped his fingers. Instantaneously, Sonya's body glowed red as her blackened slash mark healed itself

"... Whoa.. How did you..." Sonya began to ask.

Maledict shook his head and smiled like a father to a child, while Sonic simply growled in anger. "Who do you think you are?"

Flying towards the Demon Emperor, Super Sonic unleashed a flying kick. Even though the attack connected, Lord Maledict didn't even move a centimeter. In fact, it was like Sonic hadn't attack at all.

"... What?" Everyone exclaimed.

Again, without even moving, Maledict unleashed a massive shunt of Chaos Energy that completely blew Sonic away, sending him all the way across the room and smashing him into the wall.

"Well, hey, you know me. I _do_ always like a good challenge." Maledict stated, his malevolent gray gaze locking onto Cosmo's horrified blue eyes. Tsali snickered a little and turned his back to the Devil. But Satan ignored him.

"Hello there, Seedrian. I had no idea there were any of you left." Though nobody noticed, Satan took a quick glance at Tsali.

He then leaned to the side, locking eyes with his former servant, Dr. Ivo Robotnik. "You still haven't changed... except girthwise. I guess you are more resourceful than you showed when you were in my service."

"Shut up with your retarded gibberish!" Shadow, who was still in his Super form, interrupted as he flew towards Maledict with a flying kick, faster than even Sonic could see him. The Devil moved to the right, and Shadow narrowly missed him by inches.

"Sorry to disappoint you," Maledict said with heavy sarcasm, and with a single swipe of a hand, the so-called Ultimate Lifeform found himself in the tight six-fingered grip of the Devil himself.

For a few moments, they only looked at each other in the eyes, until Satan raised his other hand. It suddenly began to glow a bright crimson red as he readied what seemed to be a punching attack.

"FALCON... PAWNCH!" The Devil cried like Captain Falcon as he threw his attack.

Instantaneously, as his hand punched forward, a burst of flame that appeared in the shape of a falcon emenated from his fist, throwing Shadow right through the thick metal wall. The hedgehog slumped back on the ground as Maledict calmed slightly and lowered his shriveled fist.

The Devil turned around; Sonic and Eric were still resisting.

"Chaos Torrent!" Maledict said, extending his hand. A massive tornado of red power formed in his hand, and extended outwards, sucking in everything.

Sonic was able to resist it by teleporting out of range, but Eric, who had been taken by surprise, was almost instantly sucked into it. An invisible forces smacked him around inside the energy cyclone. But finally, it stopped for a moment, and it turned into a huge red energy beam, blowing Eric away and through several walls with a loud crash.

"And that was low-powered, too..." Maledict said softly, slowly strolling towards Sonic, who put his hands in a power position. A ball of blue light formed in his hands.

"CHAOS SUPERBLAST!" Sonic yelled, using the powerful Chaos move Eric taught him a long time ago, and immediately, a massive blue superlaser lanced out and hit Maledict directly as light filled the room.

However, when it cleared, nothing had changed; Maledict shrugged off the attack, which fizzled harmlessly against his cloak.

"How..." Sonic stuttered.

"Wow. That was so powerful, I didn't even feel it," Maledict chuckled.

Before Sonic could react, the Devil jabbed his own hand forward and replied with his own effortless Chaos Superblast, a massive firey superlaser that burned through the room and blew Sonic away. Had he not been in his Super form, it would have incinerated him instantly.

At this time, Maledict just noticed that Eric had just came out of the rubble, but this time, still using the Chaos Emeralds to barely remain in his Super form. Shadow had also woken up.

"Go get more rings!" Eric called back to Shadow, who nodded and fled. "I'll hold him off," He muttered as he turned around and faced the Devil.

Now, Sonic had also emerged from the rubble, but he was without his Super form. Shadow had also come back too, and he and Eric were still in the condition to fight. But not for long, as they both realized.

Before they could make a move, Maledict disappeared from their view, and reappeared right behind them. Even with their reflexes, they had no chance. With two quick slashes of Satan's gray plasma sword, Shadow and Eric was instantly knocked out of the fight, their forms slumping to the ground as if they had just been killed by invisible gas.

Perhaps in either reckless bravery or desperation, or maybe even both, Sonic charged Maledict when his back was turned, even though he was without his Super form.

However, even faster than the Fastest Thing Alive, the Devil grabbed Sonic by the scruff of the neck and held him up high in front of his face.

"Remember this, Sonic; where there's smoke, they pinch back." Maledict quoted the legendary DeTube Poop mantra, though Sonic did not understand or care.

"Now... FALCON KICK!" Satan finished as he threw Sonic up slightly. The Devil's armoured reptilian leg hit Sonic with such force that he rocketed upward, like a lightning bolt put in reverse.

The heroic blue hedgehog disappeared as he shot upward, floor level after floor level, out of sight.

"Daaaaaaamn!" Tsali whistled.

...

Tails watched helplessly as all of his friends were knocked down one by one, and he fell to the ground and pounded at it.

"NO!" The fox cried in anger and regret. Even though he couldn't tell, to others, a tiny green aura had appeared around him. Tails, at the moment, could feel nothing but sadness and negative emotions, which slowly started to react with something in his mind and body.

He would never let their sacrifice go in vain. _Sonic... __Shadow... __Eric..._

Miles Prower felt the Chaos Emerald start to levitate around not one of the hedgehogs, but Tails himself. And right then, he started having that sick feeling again that he had two times already today.

"Tsali, finish them," Maledict ordered.

"With pleasure!" Tsali started to slowly advance towards his enemies, ready for blood.

Suddenly, an uncontrolled evil laugh came from Tails, who was slowly standing up with the Emeralds levitating around him.

With a loud screech, Tails's body suddenly turned from a yellow-orange to a dark-green, his eye pupils disappeared, and all of the Emeralds turned a monochrome gray. A dark-green Super aura had appeared on his skin. He almost looked like an odd version of Dark Tails's appearance.

Tails had just used the negative power of the Emeralds.

And it didn't stop there. Soon, one of Tails's arms had begun to mutate into a horrifying claw-whip, with blood and veins pumping all along it. He finished his new transformation with a much longer and evil laugh, as several spikes suddenly ripped out of Tails's back, giving him the appearance of an alien monster.

"What the fuck..." Tsali said.

Just to see what this was, Tsali threw a bunch of Dark Chaos Spears, but Tails literally batted them away with his now-giant arm.

**"If you're the Ultimate Weapon, prove it!" **Tails's new voice was a demonic play on his normal voice.

"Stupid fucker..." Tsali exclaimed, powering up.

Jumping forwards, he flew at the dark beast that once was Tails, but Miles grabbed his arm before he could punch.

"**Oh no...Not impossible... But inevitable**." The monster form of Tails spoke.

"... Oh... shit..." Tsali whispered. Tails narrowed his pupiless malevolent eyes and chuckled. "**Chaos...BLAST!**"

With an unearthly flash of green light, Tsali was sent skyrocketing through the wall with a mighty crash of metal and dust. Maledict didn't appear to be concerned, but more intrigued by what Tails had become.

"TAILS! STOP IT, RIGHT NOW!" Cosmo's voice cried out.

Something in her voice must have struck a cord to Tails's heart, because almost as soon as he heard that, his body returned to normal. The spikes on his back vanished, and his arm de-mutated and returned to its normal form.

'Wow, that was an impressive show. I never thought that you had a Shroud Form, Miles Prower," Satan complimented.

"Shroud Form?" Sonya asked, kneeling next to the unconscious Eric.

"Yes. For some reason or another, Tails has been infected by an exceptionally powerful Shroud parasite, which now gives him complete control over Chaos Energy. I must say that I am honestly impressed that he has such control over it," Maledict explained.

That's when Tails realized when and how he must have been infected. _That dark fox... He injected that thing into my body... when we were battling in that factory... _Tails's expression turned into one of determination.

"It seems that you could actually be a greater enemy than Sonic could ever be," Maledict spoke with a curious expression. "Extremely interesting."

Out of a hole in the wall, the battered form of Tsali came out. Satan glanced back to him and sweatdropped. "I also have to say that I am equally as surprised by your incompetence, Tsali."

Tails, did not flinch for even a second. _If I can now control Chaos Energy... _All of the Chaos Emeralds started to glow and float around Tails as he walked towards them.

However, in another move that was particularly surprising to Maledict himself, the Devil's gray Altus Emerald and Tsali's Dark Emerald also floated around to him, getting the attention of the two dark fiends.

"If this is what it takes..." Tails muttered as the Emeralds started spinning faster and faster.

With an unearthly cry of battle, a rainbow light filled the room, changing color every few seconds. Electricity danced throughout the room as the sheer power of the Emeralds came together in one form.

When the light faded, Satan and Tsali looked upon the Chosen One; Ultra Tails. Tails's skin had changed into a flashing rainbow, though it had actually turned a white color in the standard form. His eyes had turned from a sky-blue to a blood red, just like Sonic wen he was in his own Super form.

That's when the villains realized something else; by transforming, Tails had actually healed Sonic, Shadow and Eric. Not only that, but now, they were all in their Hyper forms too; Hyper Sonic, Hyper Shadow, and Hyper Eric. All of them appeared bright-silver, except for Eric, who for some reason now appeared as a turquoise color scheme.

"Hey Tails, that was friggin sweet," Eric told the young fox.

"Thanks a lot, bro!" Sonic also praised him. Tails smiled in reply, and then everybody looked at the devilish duo not too far away.

"Fuck..." Tsali muttered, looking up at Maledict.

The Devil did not speak, but turned to Tsali again. "Tsali, for all of your killer reputation, you're dumber than a bowl of mice. I can't believe your lack of faith in my power is still so high," Maledict stated, and then turned back towards our heroes.

"I guess it is time that we took this outside," Satan added, and with a snap of his fingers, everybody except for Cosmo, Nack, Sonya, Mighty, and Amy had vanished from sight.

"Holy shit, look!" Sonya suddenly ran towards a nearby camera screen and pointed. The base was now approached a cloud of none other than the ships of His Majesty's Imperial Demon Fleet.

...

"_Attention, MXS Tryphon! You are a ship in rebellion against the Empire! Prepare to be incinerated,_" Beelzebub spoke in a huge loudspeaker out to the station.

The Lord of Flies was currently aboard the capital ship in the fleet that now surrounded the base, which in fact was none other than the DSS _Stinger_ itself, repaired after being damaged by Dark Tails.

Beelzebub himself was seated in the Master's Chair aboard the bridge, which had a slightly different layout than the ones on the regular Demon ships.

It was very easy to tell the Stinger apart from the other ships. All of the other ships were the standard dagger-shaped "Star Destroyer" design, the design which hallmarked the marvels of Demon engineering. The Stinger, by contrast, looked much more like the elegant Metarex warships, and as such looked almost entirely different.

Beelzebub was around the station because of the plan put in place by Lord Maledict; after meeting with Sonic, the ships would secretly warp in, surrounding the station. After the Chaos Emeralds were secure and the Planet Egg was taken, they would completely obliterate the station.

"_Zir_, shall we go into DEZCON mode?" A nearby Demon officer asked. DEZCON was an acronym for (when translated from Demonish) "Defense Condition".

"Yes. All hands to battlestations immediately. All ships, warm up your cannons and wait for the Lord Maledict's signal to begin the bombardment!" Beelzebub ordered. _C'mon already Maledict, wrap it up in there. I wanna blow up something!_

Astorath, meanwhile, was also surrounding the station, around where Beelzebub was floating in attack position.

"_You Metarex babies are taking up space in the glorious Empire. As such, prepare to die!_" Astorath yelled into his own loudspeaker.

The Prince of Darkness was originally reluctant to command ships, since he just wanted to go in there and bash Sonic silly with his fists before finishing them off with his gigantic personal minigun, but it was not his place to argue with the Devil over strategy.

Astorath, after listening to Beelzebub's message, turned back to his own speaker. "You heard de bug! Charge up de guns, take dem down!"

...

Far out in space, over the exterior of the fortress, the three Hyper hedgehogs and Ultra Tails, along with the Devil and the Ultimate Weapon, all appeared in a large flash of red light.

"You think that you are invincible, Sonic. So, I have one last question. Are you willing to give up the Emeralds now or will I have to take them from you by force? I personally hope that we can settle this without incident. It would be such a shame," Maledict challenged.

"You two don't have any uses for those Emeralds and you know it!" Sonic spat in reply.

"Oh, but I do," The Devil countered. At that moment, Satan put a hand on Tsali's shoulder, as a bright light enveloped the android fox. When it quickly dissipated, everyone saw that Tsali's fur had gone gold, and he had all the traits of a Super form.

"Super Tsali? Tsali has a Super form?" Shadow yelled.

"And Maledict didn't even use the Emeralds to do it either," Tails added.

"But of course," Lord Maledict spoke, "This situation is balanced in our favor, and you know it."

Unfortunately, Sonic did know it deep inside. _I can't believe it, but he's right! If Maledict is invincible and can heal Tsali at will whenever he wants to, how are we gonna win this fight? _

Sonic was interrupted from his thoughts by by Maledict pulling out a tiny solar flare, lighting it with his powers.

"Your move now."

...

Beelzebub instantly spotted a tiny red light not too far in front of the fleet. His heart almost stopped when he saw it after all the excitement building up to that point.

It was the flare, Maledict's signal to begin the attack.

"All ships! The signal has been sent!" Beelzebub screamed out in giddish excitement.

Astorath, also watching, was also nearly hyper from excitement. "Fire at will, and take de girly men down! The faster we do dis, de sooner we all get home!" Astorath yelled to all of the ships under his command.

...

Meanwhile, to Sonic and the gang, it had almost seemed like a wall of pulsating red motes of energy had appeared from not too far away in space. Well, at least at the moment.

In only a few seconds of charging, all of the ships let loose their armament, and it seems that it didn't just include their main batteries; plasma torpedoes, plasma missiles, and everything else under the sun were also launched at the doomed _Tryphon_.

As the opening lances of crimson light impacted, a vast section of the station bubbled and was slowly turned into ionized metalloid particles that floated in the vacuum of space.

But the Demons started and rolled on; they didn't even pause before firing off yet another volley, and they were firing madly at anything they saw. After all, the _Tryphon_ was way too big of a target to miss. However, in a sudden moment, all of the firing stopped. Maledict glanced at his fleet questioningly.

The Devil patched himself in. "Demon Lord to DSS _Stinger_; What happened to you attack?"

The voice of another Demon came into reply. _"Zir, our sensors have spotted a wave of Metarex battleships warping in from the other side of the station, and Red Pine's flagship is leading them."_

"Well, don't just float there. Keep firing at the station!" Maledict ordered, and put his link away after turning it off. "Tsali, go around and destroy that Metarex fleet."

"Fine," Super Tsali said, and then vanished in a burst of gold light.

Satan turned to the four powerful beings in front of him. "Now, it is just you and me. You have killed many of my komrades, Sonic; now, you will know the fury of the Devil." A giant vortex of cosmic flames formed and danced about.

Before Maledict had a chance to do anything else, all four heroes sprung through space in nanoseconds towards him in a simultaneous fly attack using all of their power. But Satan just smiled, and as all of them closed in, he blew them away with a Chaos Torrent. However, he without even moving, as if it was an automatic defense.

"You better be ready, Satan! Ready everybody?" Tails asked everyone. Of course, everyone was ready. **"HYPER TEAM BLAST!"**

Wit that being said, the three hedgehogs and Ultra Tails all went into a quad of Spin Dashes, and they immediately began to fly everywhere randomly in an effort to confuse Maledict.

However, what they didn't see was that Maledict didn't even care; he knew they could never hurt him.

All four beings closed in on the Devil in nanoseconds and repeatedly slammed into him with rapid Spin Dashes. After about ten seconds, they broke off their attack. Initially, a white puff of energy shrouded Satan, but as it cleared, it was obvious that they had done nothing.

"I helped create this entire universe, Sonic. Your attacks have no effect, but you do not need to panic. I understand you are not used to such a one-sided fight." Lord Maledict declared, slowly floating forward.

"Fuck you too, buddy!" Eric shouted out, interrupting Maledict's lecture.

However, Maledict just chuckled, and he looked out over the fortress.

_'Tsali, get back here_.' Maledict communicated via telepathy.

Hearing his reply, Super Tsali, apparently unhurt, appeared next to him.

"Hey man! These guys giving you trouble?" Tsali asked. Satan sighed apathetically.

"What do I look like, Forrest Gump? No, I'm doing fine! I called you here because my time is growing short, and it is time to finish this!" Maledict told him.

Super Tsali grunted angrily and flew away, back towards the friendly Demon fleet.

Lord Maledict, meanwhile, decided to see how the battle was going. As he saw, a part of the horde of Metarex ships were starting to clear the threshold of the station. Taking out his comlink, Maledict decided to end the battle here and now.

"Beelzebub, Astorath! Pull all your ships back immediately! That's an order," Maledict commanded in Demonish so as to disguise his order from Sonic and the rest.

Even though there was no reply, the heroes soon noticed that all of the Demon ships were starting to turn back and speed away. _Wait a sec... They're running away?_

Lord Maledict took one last glance at Sonic and his friends, and then bowed his eyes down.

Maledict prepared a giant ball of red energy in his hands. "You have given me no choice, Sonic the Hedgehog. May Altus have mercy on your soul. And now, this day will be the day of your demise!"

One final time, he jabbed his hand forward. A streaking ball of energy burst from Maledict's hand, flying and glowing all the way until it went far under the station. And then, that's when its power became obvious. A bright-red glowing Satanic pentacle, twice the size of the station, appeared behind the Metarex fleet and underneath the _Tryphon_, glowing brightly among the backdrop of space.

Without warning, our heroes heard voices; turning around, they saw Maledict mutter something as if he was praying or casting a spell.

Instantly, the pentacle ripped in half, and a massive superportal made of pure fire and brimstone opened up. The shattered remnants of the _Tryphon_ started to get sucked in, along with all the Metarex ships. The fiery hell portal grew larger and larger in both size and power. The gravity soon became so intense that it actually started suck in some nearby white dwarfs as well.

Sonic and his friends started to feel themselves get vacuumed in. Even though they tried to fight it, they couldn't. Maledict, needless to say, didn't have to fight it at all. Sonic's last glance at Maledict for now was the Evil One's smiling face. Then, he faded from their view as they were violently pulled away from him by the force of the coil.

...

Meanwhile, the rest of our heroes were trapped in the reactor core of the shattered MXS _Tryphon. _Everyone felt like an earthquake had started as the floor rocked up and down and the walls started to crumble and collapse.

"The station is falling apart! We gotta get outta here!" Nack yelled as he almost fell over from the shaking.

"But how?" Sonya shouted over the noise of the destruction.

However, all of a sudden, time seemed to slow around the heroes, until everything in the background seemed to freeze. But all the heroes still moved at normal speed.

"Hey, what happened man...?" Mighty asked.

All of a sudden, Cosmo looked behind them and gasped. Everybody else did the same as they looked to see what she had found.

Behind them, a little bit into the shadows, was a figure that was already familiar to Cosmo; a tall Seedrian with black hair, hybrid eyes, a scarred face, black battle gear, and a giant scythe slung over her back.

"VENUS!" Cosmo exclaimed.

"Who?" Amy asked.

"Another Seedrian?" Robotnik also exclaimed.

"Good you see you again Cosmo. I remember that none of your friends were there when we met," Venus greeted, with a little curtsy that was somewhat out of place compared to her looks. "I am Venus the Seedrian."

"When did you two meet?" Amy asked. Cosmo turned to her friend.

"It was back when me and Tails were underground. Venus saved Tails and I from that dark fox we first saw back on that jungle planet during our battle down in there. She left just before you came to rescue us, which is why you didn't get to meet her," Cosmo explained.

"If that is the case... Why are you here?" Nack asked, even though he had no idea what Cosmo had just explained. Venus cracked her neck.

"To save you. The Blue Typhoon and the Dreadnought were about to get sucked into the Devil's vortex, but I warped them out of range. It is time for all of you to get outta here. I'll take you back to you ships. Sonic and the others need your help. Unfortunately, I have other business to take care of," Venus replied.

"Hold on! What do you mean?" Cosmo asked. Venus just closed her eyes and smiled.

"It will come to you in time. I wish all of you well, and may you succeed in the rest of your quest," Venus said her farewell. "DOMA CONTROL!"

Before any of them could reply, their visions were blinded by an flash of green light.

...

Out in space, Sonic and the others were slowly being pulled into the swirling flaming void of death far below them in the void of space.

They all saw as the Metarex battleships were vaporized one by one as they were engulfed by the hellfire. The large red battleship, whcih they assumed top be the leader of the Metarex fleet, was slowly drawn farther and farther, before turning into ash. And the station itself wold be the next victim.

All four of the heroes had grabbed on to a large piece of metal that had once been a part of the station. They were hanging on for dear life, slowly losing their Hyper strength to avoid being whipped into burning oblivion.

"Why can't we teleport outta here?" Sonic shouted over the loud whooshing noises around them.

"The Chaos Energy from that portal is reacting with the Energy inside us! All of our powers are useless this close to the portal!" Ultra Tails screamed over the wind in reply.

"Hold on! Up there!" Eric yelled, pointing upward.

Above them, just out of the portal's range, was the Blue Typhoon and the Dreadnought. The Egg Crimson was positioned further back.

"Everybody else got out! Let's see if we can get up there! Ready?" Sonic yelled, "GO!"

Everybody let go and flew upwards with all their energy. Despite this, they were all slow thanks to the force of the portal. However, they went faster as they got farther away. Not too long later, they were flying at normal speed, all to their respective ships.

...

As the trio of the Blue Typhoon, Dreadnought, and Egg Crimson flew away, the Demon capital fleet reappeared in the system as the portal finally vanished.

Of course, Maledict himself, who had been away from the moment, was with them. Tsali, naturally, was too. By now, Tsali was without his Super form. The Devil looked upon the devastation; where the mighty Metarex battlestation was, there was barely a trace. The entire fleet of Metarex had been totally wiped out.

"But... But... Sonic and his friends..." Tsali stuttered in disbelief.

"I know. They escaped. I knew they would. It's not like I was expecting them to die from the dimensional coil," Satan spoke.

"But I thought you said that today would be the day of their demise!" Tsali recalled.

"I only said it for the effect. I knew it was going to fail in terms of killing them. It's main purpose was to destroy the Metarex fleet and the _Tryphon_, which it did. No matter that Sonic and his friends escaped, we have won a great victory here today. Red Pine, one of the most skilled Metarex fleet officers, is dead, and a good majority of Metarex navy has been destroyed."

The Devil turned around, towards the cloud of his finest warships that had all participated in the fight. He took out his comlink and broadcasted his words to all ships.

"Gentlemen, the battle is won... VICTORY IS OURS!" Maledict proclaimed triumphantly.

Through his comlink, the response was a thunderous chorus of battle cries, clapping, and cheering. Tsali just sat there in disbelief, not understanding why the Devil was so content with only a partial victory, at least in Tsali's own eyes.

"How could you let them get away, you fucking jackass?" Tsali screamed at his master. Maledict turned towards the Ultimate Weapon and sighed apathetically.

"It is not your place to know such matters. Sometimes, you might not understand why I do things, and that's okay," Maledict replied without raising his voice at all.

Tsali, out of words, just growled furiously. "You are NOT the Devil; you are a piece of shit!"

The Devil, a little annoyed at the Ultimate Weapon's insult, grabbed him by the neck and held him close to his face.

"Let me ask you something; who took you in all those years ago? Who protected you when you became the most wanted criminal in the Milky Way? Who guided you and provided for your needs? And who just destroyed a fleet of Metarex battleships along with an entire fortress with a single attack and fought off four Hyper beings without a scratch?" Maledict asked.

"Ummm... You did," Tsali spoke, now at least a little frightened.

Satan let go of Tsali. He looked out over the battle site one last time. "This fight is far from over. But for now, let us celebrate this great victory. Just in time for the Demon New Year!" Maledict said.

Turning around, he witnessed all of his ships steaming into giant rainbow portals as they went into Warpspace and vanished.

...

Lord Maledict reappeared in his throne room. Moving around his throne instead of going to sit on it, he went to his smaller chair in front of his computer.

Searching through the files, he came upon a large folder, appropriately titled "Maledict's Stuff".

Opening up a Demonsoft Word document, he began to type

...

**Day XXX, 6:05 DM**

_Dear diary,_

_I realize now that despite our new advantages over the Metarex and our hightened chances of claiming victory, this fight is very, very far from over._

_For one thing, Tsali is still unaware of the existence of yet another Seedrian that he failed to kill; Venus the Seedrian, the Warrioress of the Tryphon Order of assassins._

_But that's understandable. After all, Venus isn't even from this time period. Not even close. She is Cosmo's fore-mother from almost 3 trillion years ago. __It would be very difficult to explain that to him, but I think it would be quite funny to see his reaction. LOL_

_Fortunately, I know that while Venus does hate Tsali for what he did, he's only secondary to her main target; Tephiroth the Three-Winged Angel._

_Since I know that Tephiroth is starting to get the drop on our operations in the Milky Way, Venus might prove a willing pawn in the near future, if it means getting that tall, white rat of an Angel assassin away from us for the time being._

_If **he** doesn't get her first. __Speaking of he, to my great surprise, the Dark Fox did not interrupt our fight. __I know that Dark Tails is now on the rise. Just as it was once foreseen so long ago; _

_"The Beast shall rise up the forces of every nation and every race for his war against the higher powers. Those forces will strive to defeat him, but they will not claim victory without the help of the Chosen One."_

_It is only now that I realize that the "Chosen One" may in fact be Miles "Tails" Prower, the best friend of Sonic the Hedgehog. _

_And it is now that I see what - or who, in reality - the God of Darkness is really after. __When the true Evil One will return exactly, not even I can say. But I know this; before this is over, the Day of Darkness will come upon all of us._

_Now, enough with the melodrama, for today is a day of celebration! The Demon New Year is upon us, and with our most recent major victory against the MXS Tryphon, it is a very frivolous New Year indeed._

_Goodbye for now, and Happy New Year!_

_/end message/_

...

Phew! That was some fun typing.

I know, I know, the next Episode is very anticipated, but it won't be up for a while. Mostly because of how perfect and long I want it to be.

Note that the next chapter will be EXTREMELY long.


	13. Episode 65: Celebration of a Lifetime

Here it is. After much hardship and toil, the chapter you've all been waiting for.

...

**Episode 65: Celebration of a Lifetime**

In the bowels of Planet Hell, in the mega-metropolis of Caronius, a great celebration was about to begin.

Across the cosmopolitan buildings, large decorations and streamers were being set up. Huge billboards with famous Demonish religious and propaganda slogans were erected everywhere, and sprung up like weeds.

All soldiers on station across the Universe were now officially on-leave. The law demanded that on New Years, no fighting was to be done.

Along with the festivities, there were many displays. Aircraft made regular flybys through parts of the city, in an able display of Demon military might; dropships, gunships, fighters, and Soul Rippers. Most of them came flying out from the Sanctum itself, which had tiny opening everywhere in its massive framework that allowed aircraft to fly in and out.

Inside the kilometers-tall Sanctum of the Hierarchs, it was very quiet inside Mission Kommand. Along with most of the technicians and workers, most of the kommanders and even the three Prophets, the religious leaders of the Demons, had this day off.

The only one who usually worked on New Years was Lord Maledict himself, and even then, it was usually only to the human equivalent of five minutes.

Currently, the Devil was strolling out of the main entrance of the Sanctum. It was a gigantic door made of pure obsidian. It lead onto a scenic twisting path, flanked by magma on both sides. that led through several of the moveable walls that protected the building from intrusion. It finally led to the inner areas of the city, the ones that were in the shadow of the Sanctum itself.

It was in that area that Satan was strolling towards, for a thing he did every New Year with some of his buddies.

Barely a few blocks from the outer walls of the Sanctum lay the famous Demon tavern, the Red Dragon. Even though it was a place where all the Demon leadership would sometimes go to pick up a drink, on New Years, it was the center of their festivity.

A few minutes later, Maledict came out of the outer wall, and finally into the sub-urban area that made up the inner city. The streets were a bit narrow, though not as narrow as the ones farther away were. There were only a few vehicles about, because of everyone getting ready for the epic celebration in only a few hours.

_Well, there was some cool stuff that just happened in the past... I wonder if Beelzebub and Astorath are already there._

The festivities of the New Year always had very specific plans, for the many traditions and symbolic actions that filled it with reverence.

Half of the day would be taken up by the Mega-Arm, and the other half would be the actual celebration.

Fortress was a legendary Demon sport. It played out a bit like a tribrid of laser tag, paintball, and airsoft. However, it was in a partially-real and partially-virtual setting, and all of the weapons and vehicles were real. It was originally made to train soldiers for combat, but almost as soon as it started, people began playing it for fun, and it rapidly became extremely popular all over the Universe even as far as the Angel territories.

The Mega-Arm was the Super Bowl of Fortress, where the best teams met right in Caronius's very own Purgatory Stadium to battle it out for the championship title. The winning team recieved a prize of 5 billion kredits, along with the coveted Vanity Award, the highest award in the Purgatory Stadium and all of its major games. The winners also recieved a lifetime discount on all Fortress-related goods.

Upon the end of the Mega-Arm, Maledict would lead the traditional Procession of Demon military and civilians from the Stadium to the Sanctum, which was basically the same as a massive parade. The Procession was based on one of the most famous stories from the _Book of Kommandments_; the account of the Devil's divine birth, after which he explored the Universe. The entire spectacle usually lasted almost six hours, mainly because of the sheer number of performing groups, floats, and popular singers that volunteered and were invited to serve in the procession.

Finally, after eaching the Sanctum, Maledict would climb to its highest balcony, with trillions of cameras and eyes watching him, and make a small speech. He changed it every year, usually reflecting on major incidents or events.

Ten minutes to the New Year, a certain Hell Knight Honor Guard, specifically chosen by his peers, would climb the precarious spire of the building and activate the automatic flag system; the legendary Pentagram flag, which was never taken out except for New Years, would slowly rise every minute. At the very moment of the New Year, it reach the top and activated a massive fireworks show around the flag itself controlled by complex electronic systems in the base.

And then, Maledict would lead the whole Demon nation in song, for the glorious Demon National Anthem, _Lift High the Pentagram_.

Of course, needless to say, the Devil was looking forward to all of this. Quite a lot.

...

Meanwhile, on the bridge of the Blue Typhoon, Cosmo was staring out into space, contemplating everything that had happened in her heart.

She could never understand; why was everything that happened, happened in the first place? Why was the Milky Way Galaxy being tugged between the teeth of the Devil himself and Cosmo's own father?

Not to mention seeing how powerful Tsali's master was, she realized now that perhaps Sonic _couldn't_ win, no matter his optimism.

_Okay, why am I thinking so negatively now? Why do I always have a tendency to do that? _But it wasn't that she was thinking negatively. She simply wasn't looking on what was good.

"Hey Cosmo! Eric and the Chaotix just landed on the ship! Come on down and say hi!" The voice of Sonic jerked her out of her thinking. He stood behind her, carrying a stack of boxes.

"I'll be right there." Cosmo replied.

"Sorry if I interrupted anything," Sonic spoke as he sped off to wherever he had to go.

...

Maledict entered into the large laser door that made the entrance of the Red Dragon. The interior of the tavern was very large and was not furnished lavishly like all the places in the Sanctum were.

But Satan liked it anyway. Its modest and warm atmosphere harked back to the old days when the Demons had alot more free time to do stuff that they wanted to do, and it had always represented the Demon spirit.

It was that atmosphere the lured all high-ranking Demons to it time and time again. Outside, Satan was the ruler of his people, but in here, he was a friend and customer.

The Red Dragon was crowded with people, most of them soldiers from all social castes. A great majority of them were from the low ranking classes; Imps, Vagaries, and Wraiths among them. However, there were also many Hell Knights sitting around the room, some of them so drunk that they had fallen asleep. And sure enough, Beelzebub and Astorath were also around, talking to the bartender.

The main bartender was Cookoo Ju, aka. "Ike", who along with his brother Bob-Bob and roommate Chuggs, ran the building. Interestingly, none of them were standard Demons at all. In fact, they looked much more like humans than true Demons. That's because they were the descendants of foreigners.

Satan had always cracked up whenever someone said their names, as everyone did when they heard the names of the people who ran the place.

"WASSUP?" Maledict screamed as he walked in.

All of the patrons there fell silent, turned around, and then erupted in a joyous uproar like they had just won a huge battle. They all raised their bottles filled with rummy, the Demon version of a cross between beer, wine, and moonshine. Everywhere, it felt like the building was shaken from the hollerin' and whoopin'.

"Yo! Pal! Y'all getting ready for the big game?" Beelzebub asked.

"OH HELL YEAH! It's the Mega Arm today!" Maledict shouted in reply.

Maledict himself, along with the entire Demon leadership, were all part of a Fortress clan; or, in effect, a team. The Devil's personal team was Konfederate Nation, and it was the highest-ranking team of all time. The name of Konfederate Nation came from the famous tagline "My name is Konfederate Nation" spoken by its team members.

Many notable Demon figures were part of Konfederate Nation; Black Doom was its former Medic, until he was recently replaced by Eggman's distant cousin Dr. Finitivius, and Tsali was the Scout. Nack/Fang the Weasel was originally the team Sniper before he decided to retire from Fortress playing, and was replaced by Brent the Raccoon, Marine's older brother. Francois the Chameleon, Espio's older sibling, was the team Spy. Originally, Ixis Naugus and Mammoth Mogul were both Engineers, and they were posthumously replaced by Dr. Eggman. Maledict himself was the designated Team Leader.

"Hey, by the way, when is the match anyway?" Ike asked.

"I think its at about 5:00 hours if I'm korrect." Beelzebub replied.

That's when Astorath got up, for apparently no reason, and went out of the room for a minute. When he went back in, he was duly carrying a gigantic dark-red plasma minigun, usually mounted on fighters, but Astorath was so strong he could carry it and still move fast enough to avoid danger.

Maledict knew that it was nothing. In reality, Astorath had _two _miniguns, and played games dual-wielding them. In those games, he was usually the one who scored the most.

As he set it down on a table, _ohhh_s and _aaa_s radiated through the tavern. They were marvels of weaponmaking, and beautiful sights to behold.

"Wait, quick! Get out our recorder. Astorath, you know what to do!" Maledict yelled. Ike immediately grabbed out a video recorder and set it a little ways from the table.

The Prince of Darkness himself sat down next to it, and decided to talk about his weapons before he used them.

"Dese... are my babies. Dey weigh 700 kilograms and fire custom Daverok-2 plasma cartridges at 100,000 rounds per minute. It costs 4 million kredits to fire dese weapons... for 12 seconds," Astorath spoke with a totally serious face. But then, he smiled and stood up.

"Some think that they can outsmart me. Heheheheh, maybe... Maybe. I have yet to see one who can outsmart a _**bullet**_**!**" Astorath smugly taunted, holding up a pellet that formed the plasma blast that his weapon fired.

Maledict stopped the recording and goot out a small laptop hidden in his cloak.

"Here, hold on! I gotta put this on DeTube!" Maledict frantically went on the Demonet from his laptop.

DeTube was a famous site for videos and the like, and it was copied by many other species, such as YouTube, created by humans.

Maledict went on his DeTube channel. Surely enough, his username was "DemonEmperor666", and he had over 10 trillion videos on his account.

Satan used the chip from his recorder and uploaded it on the computer, and it soon appeared right under his channel of new videos. The Devil titled it "Meet the Big Guy", for his own reasons.

"Hey guys, anybody know where Tsali is by the way?" Maledict asked as he finished. Beelzebub and Astorath both shook their heads.

"Nope. I'm thinking he's out somewhere," Beelzebub replied.

"Well, he shouldn't be! This is a time for celebration, not gallivanting off somewhere! And the Mega Arm is gonna started in only 2 hours! Who's gonna be our Scout if Tsali is not here?" Satan said.

"I already got mah stuff." Astorath said, carrying his minigun.

"All my gear is at the stadium. I think the others are waiting for us there as well. I guess we're gonna have to go without a Scout for now." Beelzebub spoke.

Maledict glanced at everyone temporarily, before he turned around and briskly walked out the door.

...

In the hanger of the Blue Typhoon, an introduction was taking place between our heroes and the trio of goofballs known as the Chaotix. Vector the Crocodile, Espio the Chameleon, and Charmy the Bee made up this team.

However, along with them were Eric and his own friends, who had brought the Chaotix over on the Dreadnought.

"It's about time you guys joined us!" Sonic said. Vector laughed loudly.

"The Warpspace driver on our ship went on the fritz, so we had to hitch a ride with Eric," the tall croc spoke.

"Well hey, all the better, because now, all of us are around!" Eric yelled.

"Cool, but I don't want a huge mess made on the ship, so when your here, just don't screw around anything, alright? That's all," Tails asked.

"Okay!" Chase said.

"Why should I listen to you?" Charmy yelled defiantly. Vector pushed him aside a bit in embarrassment.

"... Nevermind him," Vector stated, closing his eyes a bit in shame. Everybody just sweatdropped.

...

In the dark cold room of Tephiroth's hideout, Trinity was surprised by a dark-blue flash that suddenly filled the room.

Trinity knew it wasn't Tephiroth. It had to be...

"... Tsali?" Trinity asked.

Sure enough, the fox that stepped forward was indeed who Trinity recognized as the Ultimate Weapon.

Tsali didn't say a word, but he cut loose the binds that had strapped Trinity to the chair. Twisting and stretching his wrists after having them getting rubbed raw from the metal bonds, Trinity stood up slowly.

"Why did you come and save me?" Trinity asked.

"... There is something crucial I must do, without Maledict knowing. Because he is in Caronius celebrating the Demon New Year, I'm taking this chance. I must find Venus the Seedrian, and I'll need your help," Tsali explained.

"Why? So you can kill her like you did to all the other Seedrians?" Trinity asked. Tsali just sighed and shrugged.

"... Circumstances have changed. There is something that's not right about Maledict's view towards me. I still support him, but I don't know why he never presents me with the information I'm looking for, and have been looking for for the past 30 years. But I know that Venus will." Tsali explained.

Trinity didn't know whether to believe him or not; he was a little behind in terms of galactic events thanks to his kidnapping. But if he did go along, it would free him from Tephiroth's grasp.

"I don't know exactly what you're looking for, but I'll help," Trinity agreed.

Tsali smiled; a rare action for him. "Great! Let's get outta here!"

With the power of both the Light Emerald and Dark Emerald, the two foxes disappeared.

But what they didn't know was that the second they disappeared, Tephiroth walked into the room.

"I'm ba..." Tephiroth said, but to his shock, Trinity was gone.

"What the hell? NO! I won't let them get away! If they do, they could fall into Venus's grasp, or worse..."

Tephiroth, using the computer terminal, made visual contact with the Angel Overseer (aka. Advisor) charged with overseeing the border of the Milky Way Galaxy.

The image of the Advisor appeared on the screen. The Advisor was a giant, gray-green, alien slug-like entity with a small video camera for eyes on the right side of its face and two robot claws that came out of its sides. But in all truth, it was difficult to pinpoint an eye, nose, or mouth on the mass of biomechanical flesh that made up the synth.

The Advisors had the gift of extremely powerful telekenesis, and they killed their enemies by immobilizing them and "feeding" on their memories, courtesy of a long, stem-like tongue that came out of their front. They used it to skewer into a victim's brain to gain power from their memories, a fate too disgusting to contemplate.

Overseers served as the colonels of the AAF and they were charged with overseeing the billions of galaxies in the Angel Federation.

"Advisor #11789, you are tasked with hunting down Tsali the Ultimate Weapon and Prince Trinity. This is urgent. Bring in the Hunters. Yes, you heard me right. We'll need Hunters to take them down." Tephiroth spoke.

The Overseer did not speak, for they had no true mouths or vocal cords. However, a scroll of Latin writing, projected by the Advisor's communication sensors, came on the screen; _Your will be done_. It was a bit unusual for such an ancient language as Latin to be spoken by such an alien creature.

With that, the video screen shut off.

As it shut off, the door leading to the interrogation room opened up, and two Angel infantrymen walked inside.

The two Angels were wearing dark-blue combat gear, and wore intimidating, scary metal gas masks over their faces, hiding their looks. They looked a little bit like they were in riot gear, with dark clothing and a tint to their goggles. They were strong, courageous, and reliable shock troopers; at least, they were reliable enough to go up against Hell Knights one-on-one.

"What are your orders, sir?" One of the soldiers spoke. His message came with garbled radio static; the only way soldiers could communicate was through radio chatter.

"... I want all Hunters we have to track Tsali and Trinity down. Every planet, every moon must be searched. I'll also need your forces as well." Tephiroth ordered.

Both of the soldiers bowed. "Sir, yes sir!" They both departed from Tephiroth's presence.

...

About an hour later, Tails was standing in the hanger working on a new fighter plane, which he was planning on calling the Tornado 5.

It was state-of-the-art, mainly because Tails had secretly found a set of poorly-translated Demon blueprints for their regular fighter planes. As such, Tails was making this fighter so that it would be able to equal Demon ships in a dogfight.

The door leading into the hanger opened with a hiss, and a familiar Seedrian walked in pushing a cart full of food.

"I got lunch ready! Hey, where did Chris go?" Cosmo spoke. Tails stopped working and turned to her.

"He's out helping Eric with something. I think they're trying to make a ship for the Chaotix, and Chris is helping them out." Tails said.

"Do you want this?" Cosmo asked.

"Sure. I'm hungry anyway." Tails sat down, taking a white jug filled with soda and gulping it down.

Cosmo simply turned around slowly. "I think you and the others are pushing a little too hard on yourselves."

Tails stopped drinking and looked up. "Well, at least we can rest easy now." He resumed consuming his beverage.

All of a sudden, Cosmo turned around with a big smile on her face. "I think it's about time that I do something special..." _I think this would be the perfect time to give him my suprise..._

"Hey Cosmo, what are you so cheery about?" Tails asked, noticing her expression.

The young girl giggled and turned around. "Sorry, but it's a surprise. It's my little secret."

Tails laughed a little, "Oh, giving me something to look forward to, eh?"

...

Unbeknownst to them, a certain goofy trio of detectives were spying on them from the open entryway.

"Wow! Now I see why he didn't want us to mess around on the ship!" Vector explained.

"Why?" Charmy asked.

"Don't you see? I think Tails is in love with Cosmo!" Vector replied.

Espio just sighed angrily. "They're talking over a drink. You don't know a thing about love."

"You really are a brainless idiot," Vector said, "I'm a professional detective, I know all about love. I think that Tails should try to impress her a little. Since we have nothing to do, why don't we help a little bit?"

As they walked back down the corridor, Espio only had one thing in his head. _Here we go again..._

"We're detectives Vector. We're not matchmakers!" Espio replied to him.

"We have to help Tails enjoy his time with her, and so they can have some fun together," Vector spoke as they walked.

"You mean, they're gonna have...?" Charmy asked. However, being an adult, Vector totally knew what he meant by 'fun".

"**NOT _THAT_ KIND OF FUN****!**" Vector yelled at him.

"Sorry..." Charmy apologized, and they kept walking on.

"I have the perfect way to make his love story a success! Here's the plan..." Vector huddled them all over to the nearby corner and began to explain.

...

Cosmo was walking down the hallway, thinking about her surprise for Tails. Truthfully, she did like him alot, which is the reason why she decided to give him a surprise in the first place.

However, she was snapped out of her thoughts by the sudden appearence of Knuckles right in front of her. However, he was suspended oddly in midair, and his face had been drawn over with black sharpie marker. It almost looked like somebody invisible was holding him up.

What she didn't realize was that Espio was holding up the actually-unconscious Knuckles, who had been knocked out by a can of powerful gas "borrowed" from Eric's ship by Charmy, and had cloaked himself.

"Where are you going, little girl?" Espio desperately tried to fake an evil voice.

However, Cosmo wasn't scared at all, but simply really confused. "Whaaaa...?"

The invisible chameleon looked up on the upper floor stairwall behind Cosmo; Vector and Charmy were directing the plan from up there.

"Espio, growl and scare her!" Vector whispered.

Espio sweatdropped. _This is retarded..._

Reluctently, Espio tried his hardest to growl and moved Knuckle's body in weird ways. However, he didn't sound frightening at all, and it just confused Cosmo even more.

At that moment, the door to Cosmo's left opened, and Tails strolled out. The first thing he saw was Cosmo's confused stare.

"Hey, Cosmo, what is it...?" Tails asked, turning around to the sight of the floating body of Knuckles. "Knuckles, why the hell do you have marker all over your face?"

"For some reason, he popped out and started dancing for me." Cosmo explained.

Espio, quickly trying his last-ditch attempt, rocked the M.E. Guardian's body wildly and randomly.

"I'm really confused now..." Cosmo spoke.

"Actually, I'm curious too." Tails was about to step forward to investigate.

From behind them, Vector whispered again, making an "X" sign with his arms, "Forget it Espio! Run!"

Before Tails got close enough, the body of Knuckles flew down the corridor away from him.

"You will pay for this!..." Espio yelled as he fled.

There was a pause, and then, for some reason, Cosmo fell into uncontrollable laughter. Tails stared at her for a moment, but secretly, a thought came to him.

_Wow, she's so cute when she laughs..._

Back up on the stairwell, Vector and Charmy just sighed and sweatdropped.

"Well, looks like Knuckles was the real winner here," Charmy spoke.

"Hey, I hope we don't get any competition!" Vector said, and they both laughed.

...

A little while later, Tails was walking down a corridor near the hanger carrying a stack of boxes filled with tools. Unfortunately, what he didn't know was that Cosmo was heading down the T-junction just around the corner, carrying a stack of supplies for her surprise.

As he made a left turn, he soon felt himself collide into something, and he fell over, dropping the boxes everywhere.

Looking forward, he saw Cosmo sitting on her butt, with all the boxes she was carrying strewn about.

"... Er, sorry about that," Tails hurriedly apologized, struggling not to blush from embarrassment.

"No, it was my fault! I wasn't looking where I was going!" Cosmo replied gracefully, frantically stacking up all the boxes again, and carefully not trying to mix up her boxes with the ones that Tails had.

Tails picked up a smaller one and put it up on her stack, "You okay?"

"I'm fine, but I'm in a hurry! I'll talk to you later, okay?" Cosmo said quickly, and she ran down the hallway.

Something picked up Tails's eye as he watched her leave; a tiny box left on the floor.

Opening it up, Tails gazed upon a beautiful diamond flower sitting in the case. It was a bit smudged from some of the dirt on the floor. _Cosmo must've dropped this..._

Not wasting any time, Tails ran after her to return her object of value.

...

Running down the hall, Tails soon spotted something; a door to his left, open and ajar. He also heard someone inside.

Peeking through the door, Tails noticed something. Cosmo was up on a ladder, struggling to hang up a sign that said "**_Thank You Everybody!_**"

"Cosmo...?" Tails quietly greeted as he walked in. Cosmo was quite startled and she looked around, giving Tails a look of shock and partly horror.

"You weren't supposed to find out yet!" Cosmo said. Tails could see that she wasn't angry, because she smiled at him as he approached.

"Why did you want to throw a party?" Tails asked.

"I wanted to thank everyone for helping me and taking me in," Cosmo replied.

"Well, it is pretty hard to make a party all by yourself. Why don't I help you with that?" Tails suggested, a little shyly.

But aren't you working?" Cosmo asked.

"It can wait. I'll help you now," Tails replied.

Cosmo smiled back at him. "Thank you Tails, that's really nice..."

Privately, her thoughts were much more romantic. _Wow! Does he really care about what I'm trying to do? Does he care about me?_

"So, what do you want me to do?" Tails was eager to get started.

...

Meanwhile, on a distant backwater planet, another certain Seedrian was about to enter a mountain complex containing a powerful hypercannon with a few newfound friends of hers.

A giant meteor was spotted closing in on the planet, and the locals had requested that Venus, along with a few other strangers, get to the hypercannon facility and activate it, which would fire the cannon and blow up the meteor, saving the planet. In exchange, Venus had asked for information on where Tephiroth was.

Venus's new friends were Claw the Gangsta Raptor, Kitana the Cobra, and Harley the Bear. They were all independent mercs who had just by coincidence were nearby when they were requested for this job.

The Seedrian didn't talk to Kitana much, and Harley was often rude and gruff to her, but she did like Claw alot. He also appeared to be a little more patient with her, and he also saved her neck at least twice so far on their way.

The foursome made their way to the front entrance, which was unusually grand and obvious for a facility mostly built within a barren mountain.

"Hey guys, have any of you pinpointed the location of the control room?" Venus asked.

Claw looked back towards her. He was a gray-mottled gangsta velociraptor who wore a gold belt and bling over his flexible neck. He was originally part of a big crime gang, until nearly all of the gang members were murdered by Demons soldiers sent to crack down on their criminal activities. Despite his gentle nature, he was as quick with his talons as he was with a Daverak Eagle .540mm.

Harley, meanwhile, took out one of his many different tools to reply to Venus. He was a large brown bear with an optical lens replacing one of his eyes and two metal legs. Nobody really knew where he came from, or what happened to him so that he would need cybernetic implants.

"It's not too far from the entrance. Well, at least the elevator to it isn't far," Harley spoke, putting his tools away.

"How coincidental," Kitana said. She was a bright-green cobra with red markings on her hood and a combat suit covering her body. She was good natured, but kept to herself most of the time, and Venus respected that.

Harley chuckled a bit, "Hopefully, they'll have a big salmon ready when I get back."

Everybody laughed as they strolled inside.

...

Once again, from behind the backs of Tails and Cosmo, the Chaotix were plotting for them.

"Go Tails!" Vector said.

"It's better if we don't interfere." Espio stated, and it was already obvious that he was the smart one.

"Espio, you dumbass! You don't know anything about relationships. They need an expert, and who would be better than me, Vector the Love Detective!" Vector said, and cleared his throat as he walked into the room. "WASSUP?"

"Hey Vector." Cosmo greeted.

"We were just passin' by when we heard you talking about the surprise party! if you don't mind, we'll help out too!" Vector offered.

"Oh, thanks," Cosmo thanked him.

However, Tails didn't look too keen on the idea. "I don't know..."

Vector almost immediately ran over and glomped Tails, "Hey don't worry! With the Chaotix on your side, you'll get this job done in a jiffy!" He assured. But obviously, he had ulterior motives.

_Great! On to Plan B! __When they are working, I know that Tails and Cosmo won't be near each other, because they are too shy. That's where me and Espio come in. When Charmy turns off the lights, we'll push them close together. If they get close enough, everything will work out and the sparks will really start flyin'!_

Vector, unable to control his brilliance, started evilly chuckling nonstop, though he didn't even realize it.

"Dude, get off! You're acting really weird," Tails commanded.

A few minutes later, just as Vector predicted, Tails and Cosmo were putting up things on opposite ends of the room. Espio was in position beside Cosmo, helping her out, when Vector was helping out Tails.

Behind Tails's back, Vector looked around.

"Everything is in place..." The croc muttered. Breathing in heavily, he sent a hand signal to Charmy.

Diligently, Charmy turned off the lights, leaving the room pitch black.

"Let's move!" Vector whispered, and spun around to grab Tails. However, what he didn't know was that he really grabbed a large box.

Espio did the same, and he made the same mistake.

The outcome was predictable; Vector and Espio soon accidentally ran right into each other, dropping everything and sprwling them on the floor.

Charmy, hearing them collide, turned the lights back on. The lights revealed the pair lying on the floor, stunned still.

"Hey guys, be more careful!" Cosmo said.

"You shouldn't run with things in the dark," Tails added.

"Sorry, I'll be more careful," Vector said sadly, knowing that his plan was totally ruined.

...

"_Now _are you ready to give up? You should let their relationship develop naturally." Espio asked Vector, who was sitting across from him at a nearby table.

"I can't believe Tails keeps throwing away all these opportunities I'm giving him!" Vector exclaimed.

Espio sighed angrily, "For our leader, you are pretty clueless."

Meanwhile, on the other side of the room, Tails and Cosmo were putting up small decorations on the walls, and they were standing right next to each other.

"I would never have been able to finish this without you Tails. I really do owe you," Cosmo said.

"Hey, it's nothing. Besides, I think its fun working with you," Tails spoke. Even though he didn't see it, Cosmo blushed a bright pink from his words.

"Really?... Me too. You know, we make a great team, and everybody else has been really nice to me as well," Cosmo spoke with a happy smile.

Tails turned to her and smiled, "You're right."

Vector, Espio, and Charmy all heard their conversation and saw them together, happy as can be.

"Awww... Now don't you see Vector? Everything came out right all on its own." Espio spoke, being right once again.

"Well... Yeah. I guess being a love detective ain't exactly my speciality. Arrgggh..." Vector growled. As he shot up angrily, and walked away, he accidently kicked the detached disco ball lying on the ground.

Thanks to its rubber build, it started to bounce around the walls and ceiling, until it flew right at Cosmo. She could only scream in terror as she couldn't get out of the way.

"Cosmo! Look out!" Tails yelled as he charged right towards her. Pushing her out of the way, they both landed on the floor. Tails heard the sound of the disco ball rolling away, indicating that she was safe.

Tails noticed that she was directly underneath him, totally red in the face. "Are you okay?" He hadn't realized exactly what he had done yet.

Cosmo smiled. "Yes... All thanks to you."

At that moment, reality hit the two-tailed kitsune; he had kissed her. Upon tackling her out of the way and landing on her, their lips had accidently met together. He felt his face go really hot, and he quickly got off of Cosmo, who brushed off her skirt as she sat up.

Tails noticed that all three members of the Chaotix were knealt behind him, with huge cheesy grins on their faces.

"What exactly is going on?" Tails asked with a bit of irritation.

The Chaotix team simply babbled a reply, but Tails wasn't really listening. All he cared about was that he had his first proper kiss and it was with Cosmo.

The two of them stood up after the short awkward pause, and Cosmo picked up the detached disco ball. Walking underneath the the pole where it was attatched, she saw that it was too high for her to get up.

However, from out of nowhere, she felt two warm gloved hands grab on to her waist, and she found herself being lifted up into the air. She tried to hide it as best as possible, but her cheeks flushed a bright pink at the feeling of someone touching her.

"Huh?" Cosmo asked, looking behind her. The one carrying her was Tails, using his twin tails as helicopter rotors to fly.

"Need a lift?" Tails asked with a smile. Cosmo nodded, and straightened her arms to hook the disco ball up onto the ceiling.

While they were still in the air, Cosmo turned to him. "Hey, thanks!"

"We're all done!" Vector spoke as the couple landed back on the floor.

There was only one thing left to do.

...

Venus, Harley, Claw, and Kitana all ran quickly into the control room. There was a large console to the right of them, the very same one that powered up the cannon.

Darting to the console, they began to work the controls to the firing mechanism. But unknownst to them, there was something hovering just outside the windows behind them.

They only noticed something was wrong when they heard a loud charging noise behind them.

As they all saw, outside the window was a bright blue sphere of energy coming from the sky at lightening speeds.

"Hey, what the hell..." Only Harley was able to get out any words before the ball of energy crashed through the glass and hovered in the center of the room.

Claw, not wasting any time, took out his Daverek .540 plasma magnum and opened fire. However, the beams of energy that streaked from his weapon bounced off their target.

In the course of only a second, the ball replied with its own attack; a sphere of raw power that blew Claw, Harley, and Kitana down, causing all three to pass out almost instantly.

Venus was the only one standing unhurt. But she was even more surprised at the Dark two-tailed fox that now levitated before her.

"You..."

Before she could say anything else, she felt a strand of Dark Energy latch onto her from the Dark One that stood before her sight. As it connected, she felt her brain, and then her whole body, slowly turn numb and cold.

_... NO! I can't... I can't even... control my own... body any more..._

...

As the hour of the Mega Arm approached, the ranks of the gigantic Purgatory Stadium filled with billions of Demon soldiers and foreigners. The Stadium was many, many kilometers in diameter, to seat so many people.

Each Mega Arm was divided into 2 halves of 10 hours each, with the famous Half-Time Show during half-time. Each of the halves had a different game type.

The stadium had an unusual design. It was a circle shape, but it stretched so wide that the area the actual arena encompassed was larger than a city. The whole stadium itself could actually seat up to 100 billion spectators.

The battlefield had been set up for exact specifications. The gigantic field was divided into four sectors, and each section was literally a battle in itself.

The game type for the First Half during this New Year was a game type known as Attack and Defend. One of the teams held all four sectors, and the other team only held one tiny area that could not be captured.

The attacking team has to capture all the enemy locations in the area. Then, the attackers move on to the next sector, and so on and so forth. If the defenders successfully defend a single sector against the attackers only once, the defenders win. However, if the attackers captured all four areas and, afterward, the enemy base, the attackers win the game. The matches were always taken only one area at a time.

Deep inside the East Wing of the Stadium, Maledict walked into the briefing room for the game. It looked like a large locker room, which had the nicknames of the people who used each one.

The Devil walked to his own locker, which had his signature nickname, "**Demon Emperor**" on the front. He opened the lock, and light shone out of it.

Inside were Maledict's powerful and expensive armour, including his ultra-cool face mask and his signature weapon; an SBPR666 heavy assault rifle with a blade attatched to it and a low-powered scope. He also carried a secondary pistol and even a few grenades.

Finally, he kept an entire rack of ammo for his game weapons, but he didn't bring it all; it would weigh him down far too much. Besides, there were ammo pickups in-game as well.

Also, hung up on the back wall of his locker was his GamerCard. Every player had one as a kind of ID card, showing their point total as well as their personal picture of choice and their own motto on it.

Satan, obviously, had the famous Demon pentacle as his gamer picture. His personal motto, of course, was "**MONSTER KILL**"

Next to his locker were two other ones; on their doors, they read "**Mr. Fudgeicle**" and "**Big-A**". Those were the lockers of Beelzebub and Astorath, respectively.

Each of them, like all players, had their own personal motto; Beelzebub's was "**Super B - Live for Free!**" and Astorath's was "**Outsmart THIS**"

They also had their own personal pictures. Beelzebub's was a hilarious picture he took of himself giving the "screw-you" finger with garish colors put as the background. Astorath's picture was of a giant minigun with a heart behind it.

Just as he started to get all of his stuff out, he heard the voices of Beelzebub and Astorath talking to each other as two beings came into the room.

"Hey guys! You should get your stuff. The game's gonna start really soon, so we gotta get out there and show them what we're made of!" The Devil stated.

Beelzebub and Astorath opened up their lockers and got their remaining things; Beelzebub carried a large grenade launcher, along with a powerful railgun, as his main weapon, and he was the demoman of Konfederate Nation. Astorath already had his minigun ready; he just needed his clothes and his mask.

At that moment, a loud horn sounded; the game was about to begin, and the teams would be introduced as if at a huge human football game.

"Alrighty, time's up! Let's do this! **LEEROYYYYYYYYYYYY JENKINNNNNNNNNS!**" Maledict screamed the legendary Konfederate Nation battle cry as he ran out

Though Satan didn't notice, Beelzebub and Astorath looked at each other with nervous sweatdrops.

"At least he's got chicken." Beelzebub commented. Both Demon leaders chuckled as they followed Satan out.

...

With the flick of a switch, it seemed as if heaven had appeared. The room was completely lit up with flashing disco lights and lasers lighting, along with other effects.

"Holy crap! Eric is gonna have a field day today," Tails exclaimed.

"It's truly amazing! Now, we just have to find a way get everyone over here," Cosmo wondered.

"Hey, what the hell...?" From outside of the room, two voices could be heard. Within moments, Eric and Sonya both appeared in the doorway.

"Whoa! Why didn't you guys say you were gonna throw a party? We brought our instruments, and we could play a concert for y'all!" Eric said.

"We'll tell everyone else and go get our instruments! See ya!" Sonya said, and the two hedgehogs ran off to get everybody.

Vector took a glance at Espio. "Well, that was easy..."

...

_**"LADES AND GENTLEMEN... WELCOME TO THE MAIN EVENT..."**_

The loud voice of the announcer in the announcer's box roared over the stadium as the voices of a trillion screaming fans washed over the arena.

A gigantic scoreboard, lowered from the enormous ceiling of the stadium, came to life, showing ads and other propaganda.

**"_WELCOME... TO THE MEGA ARM!"_**

Two gigantic doors on the opposite sides of the arena creaked open as the introduction played out.

**"Introducing... the legendary Demon home team! This team has the longest win streak in the history of the sport, and was the very first team to win the Mega Trophy, and it has His Excellency himself as its leader! Give it up for... KONFEDERATE NATION!"**

A large group of Demons of all social classes, led by none other than Beelzebub, Astorath, and Maledict himself, charged out of the gate, screaming their heads off, as the cameras zoomed in and showed the audience the team up close.

**"Now, introducing... the Guest for this year's Mega Arm! This team rose up the ranks like a rocket with its talented team of inspired warriors and team players! Give it up for... TEAM HALO!"**

From the other side of the stadium, the other door opened, and a bizarre conglomeration of various beings from various species poured out of the opening.

Suddenly, a hush fell over the stadium, just before everything went on fire from the colourful light effects and the blazingly awesome music.

**"Now, Ladies and Gentlemen... _LLLLLLET'S GET READY TO RUMBLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLE!"_**

Needless to say, the crowd went wild.

...

By the end of the concert, everybody was talking and drinking and eating and having fun.

Eric, Sonic, Fang, and Chase were at Eric's laptop looking at stuff, while Tails, Mighty, Knuckles, Chris, and Vector were talking around a table. Sonya, Cream, Alice, and Amy were talking about things that girls talk about. Nolan was almost totally wasted from food in the meantime.

Eric went onto DeTube and was showing Sonic and the others both his videos and the videos of others he knew, including Tsali and Maledict. He had his own profile there; "EricNeoMatrix77", and he had uploaded many videos onto his account.

Interestingly, Eric had shown Sonic and the others a hilarious video made by none other than Tsali himself, on his own profile, "UltimateWeapon435"

It was his own submission to a Guitar Hero 3 contest, simply titled "Cosmo is Gay", and the video consisted of him rocking out and singing along (quite well) to _Prayer of the Refugee_on Expert, with him making up his own vulgar lyrics about Cosmo in the middle. According to the website which hosted the contest, his video got 1st place in the contest.

There were also various videos of him reviewing bad video games in a highly dinstinctive way, with hilarious results.

Along with that, Eric was also showing him some of his own DeTube Poops, which caused all of them to randomly collapse in helpless fits of laughter.

Vector, meanwhile, was telling the people at his table a story about one of his crime-solving adventures. "It was at that moment when I finally learned who was behind it. It was a pair of bandits who called themselves the Dastardly Duo. They were the worst enemies I ever faced."

In a quick surprise, from the end of the table, Espio and Charmy popped out of nowhere and did a dramatic pose. Their faces were painted oddly, and they made an odd battle cry as well.

Everybody started laughing hard from the act, but while he was laughing, Tails's mindset switched to a certain someone.

Ending his fit, he looked around. He soon spotted Cosmo staring out a window, silent and alone.

_She shouldn't be alone like that... _Tails got up, unnoticed by everyone else, and walked quietly next to Cosmo.

"Hey Cosmo!" Tails greeted. Cosmo was startled for a moment, but she soon regained her posture.

"Oh, hi Tails!" Cosmo greeted happily with an angelic smile.

"Some stuff came up, but the party and concert worked out great!" Tails spoke, turning towards the window. Even though he tried to be as confident as possible, he was actually really shy.

"I'm glad everybody's having a good time." Cosmo also said. Tails could tell that she was a bit shy too.

There was a short pause, but Tails broke the silence. "Oh yeah, hold on for a moment!"

He took out a small hair clip that was in the shape of a diamond flower. It was shiny and sparkling, good as new.

"You dropped this earlier! It got a little dirty, so I polished it up for you."

Cosmo looked at it with a totally dreamy face. "Yes! Thank you so much for remembering it! I didn't know where it was!" The Seedrian turned her gaze once again out the window.

At that moment, for some reason, Tails remembered the kiss that they had accidently shared earlier, and he felt his face go really hot.

The next immortal words blurted out before he had the chance to think about what he was going to say.

"You're so... beautiful, Cosmo." Tails, almost immediately realizing what he had just said, hunched over in extreme embarresment.

However, to Tails's great fear, Cosmo looked at him with a suddenly dreamy expression. Surely, she heard what he said.

"Really? Do you think... I am beautiful?" Cosmo asked.

Now, Tails realized that she wouldn't have taken it badly, and so, he decided to go on.

"Yes."

Tails was about to add something, but before he could, Cosmo stepped forward and glomped him tightly. She looked up to him, and before he could ask or say anything, she gave a short kiss, right on the lips. It only lasted for a second, but to Tails, it felt like an hour. He didn't even notice that it had ended. And this time, the kiss didn't feel as awkward.

"Thank you Tails. Thank you so much."

Unbeknownst to them, however, both the girls and Sonic and Eric had both spotted the touching moment between two of their friends.

Eric took Sonic aside and pointed to the new couple. The two supersonic hedgehogs whistled quietly.

"Looks like Tails is finally becoming a man, if ya know what I mean! Think he needs some advice on how to approach women?" Eric whispered. Sonic laughed strongly at that remark.

"Oh yeah, I'll say!" Sonic replied, and both of them chuckled.

Meanwhile, Amy, Sonya, Alice, and Cream were also witnessing what was happening.

"Awwwww!" Amy said like a true girl.

"They look so cute together! It looks like Cosmo is becoming more of a woman now, right?" Sonya also said.

"Yeah, we should give her some advice on what to say to him." Amy spoke. Both of them chuckled and looked at Alice and Cream.

Alice was a little bit confused by seeing Tails and Cosmo kiss, for she didn't quite understand. Cream was simply disgusted, but she was at the age when kids would find kissing gross.

Meanwhile, back with our favourite couple, Tails and Cosmo both looked out the window, and then once again at each other.

Unfortunately, something deep in Tails's mind was nagging at his soul.

_How do I know if I'm even gonna make it to the end with everything working against me? I have to try. I see now that Cosmo could be my only help, and that is partially why I'm glad that she is with me. _

_Is it a premonition of death? I don't know, but I must find out more about the Shroud parasite that was injected into me. Perhaps I might be able to control it in a positive way if I find out how to utilize it without losing control. __But who knows if it's even possible to control it?_

"Tails, promise me something..." Cosmo's gentle voice snapped Tails out of his thinking, "When all of this is over... can I... live with you on your planet?""

"What kind of question is that? Of course. I would not have it any other way." Tails replied smiling.

Both of them grinned and giggled, as the stars twinkled in the endless vacuum of space.


	14. Episode 66: Vortal Kombat

Next episode. This one will heavily focus on Astorath, Tsali, and Trinity most of the time. Finally, it'll also give a little more revalation on the previously unknown Angel Federation, and their various tools of war.

...

**Episode 66: Vortal Combat**

In a bleak, featureless area in space, a large area of atmosphere around a large densely-populated planet was being turned into a cosmic scrapyard.

Covering the atmosphere were hundreds of ships; most of them belonged to the Metarex, and they were fighting what would normally seem like an easy battle against only a handful of Demon warships.

However, obviously, the Demons were winning, for what was obvious reasons to those watching. On their side dominating the opposition was the unbelievably colossal goliath of a warship, the flagship DSS _Indomitable_, the flagship of Astorath's personal ship group, the legendary Snakebite Fleet.

Covering seemingly the entire sky with its sheer size, the 90 kilometer-long monstrosity of a ship obliterated the entire enemy fleet on its own. In fact, the other Demon warships were only there to give covering fire as the dreadnought vaporized anything in its path.

Across the surface, the planet's natives were bearing witness to a fireworks show of totally epic proportions.

Dozens of ships (all Metarex ones) boiled and exploded into glowing fireballs as the Demon plasma weapons of the _Indomitable _cut a swath through their armor like a hot machete through oleo. The Metarex ships attempted to retaliate, but their efforts were useless against the might of the Empire.

Originally, the Metarex had taken over this planet, but now, the people were about to be liberated once again by the Empire. The entire fight lasted for only about a half-hour. Afterward, the shattered remnants of the once-might Metarex battle fleet limped away, signalling a Demon victory.

...

Astorath sat in the Ship Master's chair quietly, with a smile on his face, as the will of the Demon Empire was imposed on Planet Sargesso.

The _Indomitable _was his personal flagship, just as Beelzebub had the DSS _Stinger _and Lord Maledict himself had the DSS _Leviathan _prototype supership. 90 kilometers in length, it had the imposing appearance of a Super Star Destroyer, and was even more powerful than one.

"_Rolk'tar_, _Zir_." A Hell Knight komrade saluted Astorath in the ancient Nephilim way. "The enemy has been completely routed."

"Ja, very gud. Regroup de fleet and start repairs." Astorath ordered.

"_Zir_, we are getting a signal from Mission Kommand," another Demon spoke before his presence.

"Den put it up on de screen," Astorath ordered.

In only a few seconds, the imposing sight of Lord Maledict washed on the screen.

The Prince of Darkness bowed slightly, "Komrade Maledict, we have just routed large Metarex fleet of girly men, update you in case you wished," Astorath spoke.

_"No greeting? Not even a simple 'hello'?"_The Devil commented. His giant komrade shrugged. _"Whatever. Anyway, there is something new coming up that I need you to do._" Satan told him.

"Anything you wish."

"_We have just gotten word that Sonic and his friends have entered the Vortal Corridor. It's a dimensional area of space that allows easy access anywhere in this galactic region. They must be using it to elude both Tsali and our tracking devices, for the heavy interference in the Vortal Corridor makes them useless._"

Astorath looked at him intently, as Satan cleared his throat for a moment.

"_I need you to go inside the Vortal Corridor and find the Blue Typhoon. Once you find it, I need you to find anything that would suggest that our... mutual friends are being tracked."_

"Our ships are far too large to enter de Corridor. Are you really suggesting...?" Astorath asked.

_"Unfortunately, yes. You will have to go out and do this personally, komrade."_ Satan straightened up. "_I suggest you get moving ASAP. I want to see if they are strong enough to really help us defeat the Metarex, and I also want to make sure that they are not taken out by Dark Tails. I have also recently recieved unconfirmed reports of Angel activity on the Border. It __is imperative that Sonic and his friends are protected from the Angels, the Metarex, and Tsali too if he goes out of line. You have your mission."_

With that, Lord Maledict's image disappeared from the screen.

Astorath turned towards his crew. "You heard him, brothers; set course for nearest entrance to de Vortal Corridor immediately. And prepare your weapons. I vill be away on some business, so be prepared for surprise attack."

...

Tsali awoke to the chirping sounds of birds in pine trees above him. He and Trinity were camped on a remote forest planet as they scoured to find Venus the Seedrian.

Trinity was still peacefully sleeping by him. Apparently, for a warrior, Trinity did not know how to even be alert.

The Ultimate Weapon sat up as the early morning sun started to shine over the trees.

"So much like Thyferra..." Tsali muttered. Indeed, the planet reminded him of his former home, before his life was turned upside down.

He was snapped from his thoughts by the sound of Trinity awaking from his slumber. The former Prince of Aeon stretched out his powerful arms and also sat up.

"Hey Tsali..." Trinity groggily greeted the Ultimate Weapon.

"Yo," Tsali replied.

"Did you get any sleep at all?" Trinity asked.

"Nope," Tsali looked at his friends straight in the eye, "I don't sleep, Trinity. I wait."

However, before he could make another move, a loud series of alien-like grunts, roars, and growls sounded far in the distance, along with the slight din of machinery and motors. Without another word, the two foxes ran off as fast as they could, for they knew all too well what was chasing them.

"We should start to get moving," Trinity said. "Hey... Do you hear that?"

As they fled into the forest, they heard loud rumbling in front of them. The two foxes ran forward a little bit more, until they came into the lip of a ravine with a bridge directly across from them.

Across the bridge were what Tsali and Trinity had feared were being sent after them.

They looked upon a convoy of _Stridorae_, better known as Striders, escorting a group of large incubation pods mounted on wheels.

Striders were the heavy units of the Angel Federation. About 70 feet tall, they really were little more than just a small armored head with a white Christian cross emblazoned on it, attached to three extremely long spindly legs. Essentially walking heavy gun turrets, they were equipped with a fast-firing machine cannon mounted beneath the head, along with a warp-field cannon that instantly vaporized anything it hit.

They were synthetic; they were not robots, but giant cyborgs. They could also impale targets and clear debris with their sharp legs. Their power and intimidation factor was such that even the bravest Hell Knights knew fear when the distinctive humming sound of their warp cannons charging was heard.

"Striders! Here? How did they get so far beyond the Demon border so quickly?" Tsali said incredulously. Even Tsali feared Striders, as Tsali feared many of the ferocious Angel synths that they used for combat.

"Wow... Tephiroth must be desperate... But what are in those pods they are taking along?" Trinity said.

"They carry what the Demons know as _Shu'ulax'thoi_- Advisor synths, still in their incubation pods, being carried in a comatose state. They are the colonels of the Angel Federation. For some reason, I have a feeling that they aren't after _us_." Tsali said.

"Why?"

"I think that they aren't _just _after us... I think they're looking for something else too." Tsali replied.

"What would they be looking for but us?"

"Dunno," Tsali said, "But maybe if we find Venus, we can figure out why."

"Well, _if _we find her. With Striders on our case, this won't be easy." Trinity said.

"Trust me, Trinity, it aint just Striders they have after us. We have to find a way to contact Maledict and warn him about ths Angel incursion," Tsali spoke to him.

"I still can't believe that you work for Maledict," Trinity said, closing his eyes. Tsali sighed angrily and grabbed him by the shoulder.

"There's no time for that! Now, what matters is our survival."

Both of them nodded, and started on their way.

...

Astorath, using his teleportation ability, warped onto solid ground.

The Vortal Corridor was strange even by space anomaly standards. It oddly looked like a gigantic cave, even though that was really layers of thick ionized gases. Pieces of rocky ground were also scattered everywhere, floating aimlessly.

The Prince of Darkness landed on a thick piece of rock with a loud thud. He immediately scanned the area for any signs of the ship he was supposed to be hunting.

That's when he found his target; peering though a dense forest of jagged spiky rocks was the familiar blue-and-white color scheme of the Blue Typhoon, along with the familiar shapes of Sonic and his friends standing at attention, as if knowing he was there.

"Dere you are..."

Without a second thought, Astorath ran forward with all of his strength, and impacted the rocks. With every step he took, the ground itself shook under his weight and size, and his footsteps echoed all about. If Sonic and friends had not noticed his presence before, they certainly did now.

Under the sheer velocity, along with Astorath's massive strength and size, the jagged rocks crumbled into dust like they weren't even there. Astorath smashed a path through the rocks effortlessly, adrenaline coursing through his veins. Finally he reached the other edge of the rock mass.

And immediately in front of him were the prepared forms of Sonic and his friends.

"YEAH, WHO'S DE JUGGERNAUT BITCH?" Astorath greeted them with his trademarked catchphrase. The Prince of Darkness laughed as he recovered himself and his strength.

However, his expression suddenly turned to one of indignant surprise when he locked eyes with Sonic and friends. "Wait minute, I was told we would be fighting MEN! Who sent all dese babies to fight? What sick man sends babies to fight me?"

"Babies?" Cosmo spoke without thinking, unwittingly getting Astorath's murderous attention upon her.

Astorath's expression changed as the young girl's eyes locked with the electric-yellow pupils of the giant. _"B'rohlyv mynegruhl stragfigador, gnuoy lirg tnalp." _("You have been a pain to find, young plant girl.")

Cosmo blinked in surprise when he realized he was trying to address her, for she only knew just a tiny bit of Demonish from her sisters and thus had only a rough idea what he was trying to say.

She tried to respond, in a very poor and shaky dialect, _"N-Noyst strondas s-shingdr" _(roughly, "Here I am.")

Tails and Amy glanced at her in surprise at her response, for they had never seen her speak the Demon language.

At first, the giant humanoid gave her a strange look, before pointing at her and laughing heartily. "... Ohohoho, dat slaps me on de knee!" Cosmo did not understand that Astorath was laughing at her dialect.

"Who the hell are you?" Knuckles asked, without intending a pun. Astorath stood up, backed away, and looked down upon all of them.

"My name is Astorath, de Prince of Darkness. Lord Maledict knows of your coming, for he still thinks dat you are not as weak as you seem, and even now he moves his forces against you. I have come here to kill you and beat your ass."

With that, Astorath effortlessly bent over and lifted an incredibly long phallic piece of jagged rock behind him, which looked like it weighed thousands of pounds.

"You are all so TINY! It's funny to me!" Astorath exclaimed as he looked down upon his cowering opponents.

"Whoa!" Sonic said.

"Holy shit..." Knuckles muttered.

Without even trying, Astorath threw the monolithic boulder right at our heroes, nearly barrelling them over.

"Everybody, get back inside the Typhoon!" Sonic said. He knew that one of them was certainly gonna die if they all stayed out here for much longer. Tails, Cosmo, Cream, and Chris all immediately followed Sonic's order. However, Amy brandished her Piko Piko Hammer, ready to fight.

"... Amy, you too!" Sonic added.

"But..."

"No time to argue! Get back inside the ship." Amy shrugged, and promptly did as she was told.

"IT'S GOOD TIME TO RUN, KOWARDS!" Astorath called after the fleeing members of the Typhoon's crew.

Now, the playing field was leveled; Astorath vs. Sonic and Knuckles. "Oh please, it's too easy to outsmart big guys like this..." Sonic muttered as he ran in circles around Astorath, who was unfazed by Sonic's trickery.

Sonic and Knuckles gave each other wierd expressions.

"Hey, what's so funny?" Knuckles asked. Astorath looked down upon him, with an utterly cruel smile on his face that could scare even a being as fearless as Knuckles.

"... Sure, you dink you can outsmart me..." The Prince of Darkness said dangerously, "But can you outsmart BULLET?"

At that moment, he finished his statement by pulling out two giant Gatling miniguns from out of thin air and aim them effortlessly with his hulking strength. The Prince of Darkness grinned as he saw their jaws drop in shock. If the two Mobians had pants, they would've shit them at this point.

"Uh oh..." Sonic muttered. Astorath laughed at their weakness.

"... OUTSMART DIS! NOW, IT'S KOWARD-KILLING TIME!"

Instantly, the dual miniguns ripped their payload, totally spraying the Blue Typhoon with plasma bullets and causing burn marks all along its thick hull.

As he circled around, getting a bead on Sonic and Knuckles, who had both immediately jumped out of the way, his two Gatlings ripped right through the forest of spike-rocks around them like they weren't even there, the jagged spikes crashing loudly to the ground and turning into dust.

"WAAAAAHHH! WAAAAAHH!" Astorath suddenly impersonated a crying baby as his multi-barreled cannons of death shredded everything in sight, "**GAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!** **CRY SOME MORE!"**

Despite his pure thrill and bloodlust, even he realized that it would take more than just his weapons to take these foes down.

Relaxing his fingers on the triggers, the miniguns stopped firing as Astorath retargeted his opponents without burning through his plasma charges. Additionally, his weapons had overheated, and needed to cool down.

After a few seconds of looking, he noticed that they were both right behind him, whispering something to each other.

"RUN, RUN! I AM KOMING FOR YOU! " Astorath said, spinning 180 degrees with his re-cooled miniguns at the ready. "Stoopid furries must die!"

However, all of a sudden, they disappeared without a trace

"What de hell..." Astorath spoke, using his lightening-reflexes to look around.

Suddenly, he felt two beings appear and land on his huge shoulders, jumping off and running away. Using their speed, their circled around him faster than he could see. The giant Hell Knight tried to get a bead, but he was simply too slow.

"This is like rabbits, back and forth!" The Prince of Darkness murmured, before clearing his throat. "Will you fight me or run home to momma like babies? Make up your minds!"

"Fine then!" With that, both Sonic and Knuckles appeared in front of him. "But seriously, lose the guns. If you're really that strong, then you'll fight us without weapons to help you."

Complying with their agreement, Astorath slung his cannons over his back, and then cracked his leviathan fingers, ready to throw down.

"RRRRAAAAGGGHH!" The giant Hell Knight bared his pointed saliva-drenched canines. "Now, let us fight man versus tiny baby men. Fight me kowards!"

Knuckles accepted his request by sprinting at the giant and leaping at the brute's throat, digging his knuckle spikes right into Astorath's fleshy neck. Taking advantage of Knuckles' distraction, Sonic went into a Spindash and barreled into Astorath's body, albeit with no effect.

Astorath made a sudden jolt to the right, the impact of his giant muscles causing Sonic to lose his Spindash and crash to the ground. Knuckles felt something grab his torso and pull him right off of the Demon leader's neck. Astorath held up the echidna in his fist as the Mobian struggled like a mouse in the paw of a cat.

The Hell Knight loudly roared as he hurled the tiny Mobian like a bouncy ball. The echidna left a huge crater as he skidded across the ground. Astorath, preparing to go at Knuckles again, rushed towards the crater.

Sonic sprinted up onto the flight deck of the Typhoon, using his height advantage to leap at Astorath's head. Before the Demon managed to step aside, Sonic unleashed a powerful kick right into Astorath's small eyes.

"ARRGGHH NOOO!" The Prince of Darkness howled and rubbed his eyes, flinging Sonic off with his thrashing. Sonic had not actually done any real damage to Astorath, but did give him a good hit in one of his only vulnerable areas.

Astorath, regaining his compulsion, noticed that Sonic was still near the giant's foot. He kicked Sonic like a soccer ball, sending the hedgehog skidding into yet another group of phallic boulders.

"I think little fox needs to build diaper-changing station!" Astorath glanced towards the bridge of the Typhoon and smiled at the people he knew were watching the fight from the bridge, even though he couldn't see them.

Sonic took advantage of this to contact his friends, "Tails, fire up the Sonic Driver!"

Immediately, the flight deck of the Typhoon began to open up like a giant hatch, and a large blue cannon rose and aimed at the large humanoid in front of them. Sonic sprinted up the side of the ship and jumped into the barrel. Curling his body, he went into a Spin Dash, automatically activating the weapon. Astorath noticed blue light shining out of the muzzle as the cannon aimed directly at his body.

"... Go ahead, use your tiny gun. Then RUN!" Astorath challenged.

The curled blue hedgehog launched directly at the mighty Demon leader. Astorath, of course, was not fazed at all; he knew what he had to do.

Sonic almost instantly hit Astorath directly in his chest, which ironically enough was the worst place to hit him. Even though the sheer kinetic force of Sonic caused Astorath to slide back several meters and loudly hit a rock wall, it did nothing but give the Demon a small tickle on his skin. In fact, most of the damage was from Astorath slamming into the nearby rock wall.

The rock crumbled and shattered underneath his massive girth. Regaining his balance, Astorath managed to grasp the spinning Mobian and toss him away. Sonic managed to land back on his feet before also hitting a phallic monolith.

Both Sonic and Knuckles stood like idiots with their jaws dropped, unable to comprehend an enemy that could withstand even their mightiest conventional attack so easily. They didn't know that Astorath was beginning to exhaust himself from both trying to fight them and from resisting their attacks.

Astorath gave his enemies a toothy grin, hiding his fatigue as best he could. "You are going to need MUCH bigger guns!"

"Oh my god..." Amy, on the Typhoon's bridge, nearly fainted, "It didn't do anything!"

"How... how is that possible?" Tails sweatdropped.

"Is that Demon invincible?" Cosmo wondered aloud.

Sonic smiled and spoke, "Look's like we're gonna have to do this the hard way."

...

Tsali and Trinity sprinted through the underbrush, fleeing from a crescendo of more alien growls not too far behind them. That's when the were suddenly mobbed by a trio of the very creatures they were running from.

They were the feared _Venatorae_, the Hunters.

Hunters were yet another type of synth, consisting of a white, rounded rectangular central hardened core protected by a blue armored outer skin layer, also emblazoned by a white cross on their foreheads (just like all Angel synths did). Essentially, they were mini-Striders, and could go where Striders could never go.

Standing about eight feet tall, roughly the same height of a Hell Knight, they stood on three quadruple-jointed legs, and saw via two vertically aligned blue eyeports. Their hooves ended in two sharp claws, which they often used for either slashing or stabbing melee attacks. They also had razor-sharp mandibles just below the body, which they used to impale their pray.

Once again, even Tsali himself feared Hunters; their speed and strength, along with their incredibly annoying tendency to hunt in packs, made them difficult to kill. And of course, being a Demon mercenary, he had had more than a few run-ins with Hunters in his life.

Like a pack of wolves, the three Hunters surrounded the two foxes, squealing in their guttural language. Tsali knew that they were communicating; Hunters were smart enough to track and kill their prey tactically, although they were weren't too smart in normal circumstances.

"W-W-What are these things?" Trinity stuttered.

"Hunters. Tephiroth must've sent them to look for us," Tsali replied, "Follow my lead. Don't do anything stupid."

The two foxes got into battle stance, ready for anything.

Before any of the Hunters could move, another Hunter came with them. However, this synth was slightly different. It was a bit taller than the other Hunters, and it was a bright-green color scheme instead of a blue-gray.

This Hunter was what Tsali recognized as an Alpha Hunter; the leader of the pack. They commanded groups of Hunters in their raids. Alpha Hunters lacked mandibles, but they were replaced with small launchers that could fire fragmentation rockets at their prey.

Without warning, Tsali immediately grabbed Trinity's hand and both of them leaped high into the air, out of the ring of Hunters, and they started running as fast as their legs could take them.

Bursting through the underbrush, Tsali could hear a chorus of loud animal squeals and growls coming from behind them, and didn't even bother to look back; he knew that they were charging after them.

"C'mon! UNDER THAT ROCK!" Tsali screamed as the two foxes ran for their lives. But neither of them needed to be reminded twice.

Spotting a small outcropping of rock, Tsali took Trinity's hand and dived underneath the outcropping. The thunderous hoof beats of charging Hunters sounded over them as the Hunters galloped right over their hiding spots, not seeing that they hid.

The two foxes got up out of their hiding places, looking around to see if there were any more ravenous synths approaching.

But it wasn't a synth that Tsali heard this time; rather, it was the loud buzz of a helicopter.

"Get down!" Tsali yelled, tackling Trinity to the ground.

Immediately overhead, a large alien-like black attack chopper flew overhead. It was obsidian-black, and it had an oddly beautiful appearance, even though it was equipped with both mines and a powerful fully-automatic rail cannon.

"Wow... Are we being hunted by the entire universe or what? And why can't we just battle them? We're strong enough to destroy them," Trinity asked as they both got up when the chopper had passed.

"But if we do attract attention to ourselves, there will be even worse stuff that we gotta fight, including some shit the Angels have that not even I can defeat easily," Tsali replied.

"Like what?"

"Like all of those," Tsali replied, pointing to the giant convoy of Striders and Advisor pods still visible in the distance. "Mind you, I'm really not in the mood to get tangled up in another Advisor battle. The last one didn't really end too well..."

"What happened?" Trinity asked.

"... It froze me with its telekinesis and impaled me through the head with its tongue. And that was just _one _Advisor facing me," Tsali said with an embarrassed chuckle and a sweatdrop.

"Wait, what? If it impaled you, how did you not die?" Trinity asked.

"Believe me Trinity, when I say this; I am almost immortal in terms of how much I can stand pain. However, I did lose alot of valuble data, because it was feeding on the data in my brain, instead of my memories," Tsali replied, "Normally, Advisors impale their prey to feed on their memories, but since my memories take the form of memory data, they 'ate' that instead. It's kinda complicated."

Trinity looked around, and then looked back to Tsali. "Well, you certainly have many surprises."

"Despite my strength, Advisors are difficult even mor me to kill thanks to their psychic abilities that put even my own powers to shame," Tsali looked up at the convoy, "And judging by the looks of it, they got an army's worth of Advisors after us."

"But why do they need so many Advisors for just this force?" Trinity asked.

"...Actually, that is a good question. One that I don't know the answer to. Anyway, we should get moving and find a way outta here without alerting the Angel warships blockading this planet. Let's go! First, we should find a settlement of any kind. if anybody still is here, the might be able to help us."

With that, Tsali ran forward, although Trinity paused for a moment.

"Cosmo... Forgive me... please... my love..." Trinity muttered to himself, before following Tsali through the forest.

...

By the end of an hour's time, all of the _kombatants _fighting in the Vortal Corridor reached the end of their physical endurance.

In the wake of the failed Sonic Driver attack, Knuckles and Sonic had been dodging Astorath's blows and striking at him occasionally, which all too often resulted in massive retalion on Astorath's part. The Prince of Darkness had been slowly weakened down by the duo's repeated attacks, while the massive blows of Astorath's sheer strength and resilience had quickly taken their toll on our heroes.

"Wow... You stronger den you demonstrated last battle." Astorath spoke, straightening up and breathing heavily.

"What do you mean?" Sonic asked.

"You wouldn't understand, even if I explained."

"Shut up, and be glad that we don't have the Chaos Emeralds with us so that we could kick your ass six ways to Sunday!" Knuckles arrogantly taunted. Astorath was completely unfazed.

"And your strength, little echidna... I think I know where dat comes from. You are worthy of my challenge, and dat is certainly compliment." The Prince of Darkness told Knuckles with an almost kindly smile.

Suddenly, a loud beeping could be heard. Astorath took out a portable radio set and listened in. A distress message immediately began blaring across the ether.

"_**Snakebite Fleet to Lord Astorath! Snakebite Fleet to Komrade Astorath!"**_

Behind the low Demon voice, loud explosions and blasts could be heard in the background.

"Sankebite Fleet! What de hell is going on?" Astorath yelled back at the radio.

"... _**We're under attack!**_ **_It's the... the... the Dark Kitsu... SHIT! GET THAT THING CLOSE-RRAAAAAAAHHHHHH!_**"

With that final message, the com cut out in a haze of static.

"Damnit!" Astorath yelled in disgust.

He quickly glanced at Sonic and Knuckles. "You have won de day today, but if we meet again, I won't hold back. Next time, fight somebody your own tiny BABY size!" Astorath parted, and he teleported out of their sight.

...

Tsali and Trinity both arrived at a small valley, where they found their first traces of civilization.

They came upon a large mining depot, old and rusting buildings cluttering the area and various machinery fallen into urban disrepair. Derelict machines and generators were strewn about.

It was eerily quiet... too quiet.

Unbeknownst to Tsali, Trinity secretly spotted an odd shape darting around one of the roofs of the buildings. He couldn't tell what it was though.

"Looks deserted," Tsali said, walking into the depot yard, filled with garbage and old junk.

Trinity spotted an old mine entrance leading out of the depot. "There's a mine entrance. Perhaps we could lose the Angels in the mining complex."

"Well, I don't know if that's such a good idea..." Tsali said.

"Why?"

"Because I just took a scan of the interior, and I'm reading massive Shroud signals everywhere inside," the Ultimate Weapon replied.

"Shroud parasites? I didn't think those creatures would be here."

"And it's obvious that the Angels do not know the presence of Shroud here either. They could distract the Angels for us and allow us to sneak away."

"Don't forget that they will attempt to infect us too," Trinity said. Tsali gave him an unusual look.

"We don't have anything to fear. My CPU is custom-built to withstand Shroud infection, and I have my Dark Chaos Energy to use as well." Tsali said.

"Speaking of that, Tsali, how is it that you and Tails can use Dark Chaos Energy? I know it is highly radioactive and poisonous," Trinity asked.

"Do not forget that I am a machine. Because of that, the radiation from Dark Energy does not affect me at all. But as for Tails in his Shroud Form... Not even I know that. I took a scan of his Shroud Form, and it didn't come up with anything."

"'Scan?'" Trinity asked.

Tsali facepalmed in annoyance. "I am an android. I have my own HUD and vision modes, along with weapons systems. One of those vision modes is a scan visor that lets me scan things to learn more about them. Okay?"

"Geez, sorry..." Trinity apologized with apathy.

Tsali sat down on a rotting log, pausing and thinking to himself. _Another day, another 24 hours of more suffering..._

He looked out in the distence. Since they were on a hill, they could see rolling forests everywhere around them. He was mainly looking at what he saw to be seemingly endless hordes of Angel soldiers and synths hunt for them.

_But I still have a feeling that Tephiroth isn't just searching for us... I think he has another agenda too._

_..._

As Astorath teleported back out in space around his fleet, he was greeted with a scene of complete heartbreak for a fleet commander.

Where his mighty fleet once was, virtually nothing was left. Every smaller battleship escorting the DSS _Indomitable_ had been totally obliterated. And even the mighty _Indomitable_ had not been untouched.

In fact, many gigantic holes had been ripped out of the sides, and while it was still operable and could still retreat into Warpspace, Astorath was sure that thousands of his crew members had lost their lives. Besides, it would most likely take months to repair the serious hull damage.

Not to mention that every single Demon aboard the other ships were dead. Thousands perished when their ships were obliterated in their effort to protect the _Indomitable_ from... Well, whatever the crap they had been fighting.

"Dis is sad day!" Astorath spoke to nobody in particular.

With another teleport, Astorath reappeared inside the damaged bridge of the _Indomitable_. The crew members had kept to their stations, and it was mostly intact, fortunately.

The Prince of Darkness spotted the gold-armoured Hell Knight he had ordered to take charge of the ship while he was away.

"What happened here?" Astorath ordered. The Hell Knight promptly stood up at attention.

"_Zir_! A mysterious blue lifeform came out of a Warpspace flux, and out weapons were useless against it. The other ships formed a defensive ring around us while I tried to get the Warpspace drives active, but before I was able to activate them, the unidentified creature was suddenly gone, and all our ships were destroyed." The Hell Knight explained.

"Well, I won't blame any of yoo for dis catastrophe. If anything, de fault was mine alone, for leaving all of you behind. And what dis creature you speak of?" Astorath asked.

"_Zir_, it was very small, and it looked like a dark-blue fox with two tails. Not even I know how it did this, but it was so nimble that our cannons had no effect." The Hell Knight spoke.

"A two-tailed fox? De only two-tailed foxes I know of are Tsali and dat Tails baby who's with Sonic. I will contact Lord Maledict immediately. Perhaps he can answer dis question."

"Our communicator is still working," the Hell Knight informed.

"Gud. Patch in a signal."

With that, the viewing screen promptly popped up, and through some static, the guise of Lord Maledict appeared.

"_Astorath? Good. I thought something happened to you and the Snakebite Fleet when you didn't reply for several hours. Were you able to disable the Typhoon's warp drive?_" Maledict inquired. Astorath shook his head in shame.

"I am very sorry to say dere is no Snakebite Fleet left. It was totally gone when I went to fight Sonic just as you kommanded me to. I was unable to disable de ship because of this surprise move." Astorath spoke with a heavy shame on his shoulders.

Maledict mouthed something, but the Prince of Darkness couldn't tell what it was. "_Who do we have to blame for this?_"

"If anything, de fault was mine and mine alone, for leaving fleet behind." Astorath spoke down to almost a whisper.

"_No. You followed my orders just as I asked. What I meant by the word 'blame' was; what attacked you?_"

"... We don't know. My subordinate I left in charge of de fleet did give me a report. He said dat it was... some kind of two-tailed blue fox. Dey tried everything to destroy it, but de creature kaboomed every ship, and by de time I returned, it was gone. My flagship is heavily damaged, and we only have enough power for one Warpspace jump back to base." Astorath reported.

The Devil partially gasped, and looked down, as if in thought.

"_Astorath, listen very carefully. Get out of there. Now. I know what attacked you, and it's something out of your league_." Satan said.

"What? Who was de one who attacked me?"

"_Get back outside the Milky Way to a repairing station, and I will tell you when you arrive. There is something terribly wrong going on, and it's more than even you can handle alone. You have my commands. Now, get outta there_."

With that message, the malevolent image of Lord Maledict cut out, leaing Astorath just as mystified as ever. But he was partially worried too; who _was _the creature that attacked? I must've been something extremely powerful, beyond even the power of Astorath himself.

And that made him worried indeed.


	15. Episode 67: The Fudge Covered Trap

Next chapter in the saga. For all you Beelzebub fans, your hour of victory is nigh.

...

**Episode 67: The Fudge-Covered Trap**

Miles "Tails" Prower shivered in his bed, completely absorbed in the dream that now overwhelmed his sense. "Cosmo... I..." He muttered in his sleep.

Tails suddeny awoke in a flash, breathing heavily and his fur coated with sweat. As Tails awoke, he suddenly heard a squishy sound between his legs, and he felt something warm and wet over his torso.

"Oh no..." If Tails was correct, he had accidentally wet the bed, which hadn't happened to him since he was 3 years old. However, on closer inspection, Tails found something else; instead of urine, he found a thicker liquid, white and sticky, over his waist and stomach.

"What's this?" Tails muttered as his felt a little of it on his hand. It was very slimy and very warm.

"Hmmm... I wonder what this is." Tails muttered as he got out of bed, not knowing the true identity of the liquid that had in fact come from himself.

...

Beelzebub sat in his asteroid base, inside his personal room. Old electric guitars and other rock memorabilia covered the walls, along with most of his other stuff. There were also very large posters of bands he loved posted on the walls, along with a giant poster of Beelzebub's favourite band, System of a Down.

Not to mention that he also had many posters of some of his favourite PC games hanging everywhere. Also laid out on his desk was a large box filled with frozen fudge bars; Beelzebub's favorite food.

However, the Lord of Flies was looking at something even more awesome; the ultra-secret blueprints for the feared megaweapon known as the Galaxy Crusher. The Galaxy Crusher was a weapon of fantastic proportions. Its name struck terror into the hearts of whole galaxies who heard that it was being prepared to fire.

The size of a red-giant star (2 AUs or roughly 300 million kilometers) in diameter, the Crusher had over 10 sextillion Demons as its crew, including officers, soldiers, pilots, and support crew of every variety. Bristled across its surface were countless hypervelocity plasma turrets, ion cannons, whereas its hangers held entire legions of state-of-the-art warships.

Having the firepower of over half the entire Demon Imperial Navy, it was no surprise that it became the most infamous ship in the universe.

Conceived by Beelzebub himself and constructed at his personal secret installation known as "The Maw" over a period of 3 billion years, the Galaxy Crusher was the strongest and largest weapon in the history of the universe, its battlestation mounting boasting an insanely destructive power laser designed to destroy whole galaxies by collapsing the black holes at their centers. Along its flight path, the beam of death could also vaporize whole systems of planets and stars in nanoseconds.

Its power was such that it didn't just terrify the Empire's enemies, but it also terrified the Demons themselves. In fact, the weapon was only used 5 times in its long life.

About the only one who _wasn't _terrified by it was Beelzebub himself. He remembered surprising Maledict with what he called a "gift". But after its demonstration on a defenseless galaxy, which was totally obliterated as a result, Satan himself shut down the weapon project indefinitely, for even he was terrified at the prospect of what could go wrong with such an incredible marvel.

Another disadvantage with the Crusher was that it needed a gigantic amount of Chaos power to simply fire; at least the power of a single Altus Emerald, the strongest Emeralds in the Universe. Being the Devil himself, Lord Maledict had such an Emerald, but he was reluctantly to let others use it.

He knew all too well the fate of his comrades at the hands of the Metarex and Dark Tails. That was why he was secretly planning to reactivate the Galaxy Crusher, without Maledict's consent. If the Milky Way Galaxy had to be destroyed in order to save it, then so be it.

He was interrupted from his thoughts by the sound of a beep on the radar of his base. A large radar blip was approaching the asteroid hiding his personal habitat. It was just whom he was expecting; the Blue Typhoon.

"There they are! Time to send them a little message, courtesy of me, Mr. Fudgeicle!"

...

"We're getting a message from somewhere nearby." Tails said, displaying the message, which was written in a style that almost none of them had ever seen before.

"It's in Demonish," Cosmo interpreted, "But I don't know what it says."

"Didn't you say that you knew Demonish?" Knuckles recalled.

"I said that I was taught only a little bit by my sister, Galaxina. I really only know the Demon national anthem and a few verses from the Book of Kommandments. I have no idea what this message is saying." Cosmo admitted.

"Then I'll use my new translator." Tails spoke, beginning to read the message as best he could, since it was rather rough.

_"Greetings, Sonic and friends. I have heard all about your exploits lately, and I kindly request you sending one of you crew members to inform me when you are ready. I am inviting you to my base. __The ships I sent before were a simple test I sent to you, and you have passed with honour. I have been waiting for this moment when_ _I could meet you for a very long time. __I am Mr. Fudgeicle, a kommander of the Demon Empire, and His Omnipotence Lord Maledict's right-hand man. I hope that you will pay me a visit so I can finally meet you._

_Sincerely, __Mr. Fudgeicle"_

"... What the hell kind of name is 'Mr. Fudgeicle'?" Knuckles sweatdropped.

"I dunno, but I got a bad feeling about all this..." Tails replied.

"Well, whoever he is, he's really looking forward to meeting us. Let's go return his invitation." Sonic said.

"No," Cosmo stood up. Everybody gasped and turned to her, "I should go first to investigate and tell this person we will come. If it is a trap, then it will only catch me. I'd rather sacrifice myself then to put all of you in danger."

"Well, he did say that he just wanted one of us to come and greet him." Chris spoke in defense of Cosmo.

"But... But..." Tails stuttered.

"Chris is right. Cosmo, if you wish to go alone, we won't stop you. But I don't want you to get hurt, so be extremely careful." Amy said.

"Don't worry, Amy. I will." With that, Cosmo turned and briskly walked out of the exit from the bridge.

Tails simply sat there open-mouthed. "Are you guys insane? I can't let her go out there alone!"

"Tails, she's mature enough; let her go. She knows what she's doing," Knuckles assured.

Tails sat back in his seat. "But..."

"Relax, man. I'm sure nothing will go wrong." Sonic assured.

...

Within minutes, Cosmo pinpointed the Tornado 5 towards the hanger and touched down. Not too long before, Tails had tought her how to fly his starfighters.

Before she got out, the airlock hatch above her closed and sealed tightly. As she jumped out of the cockpit, the sound of a loudspeaker activating from the ceiling could be heard.

"_Heheheh, hello there Cosmo. You may proceed, for I have unlocked all the doors_." A voice called out from the speakers hidden in the ceiling.

At that moment, Cosmo herself began to worry; "Mr. Fudgeicle" apparently knew she was the one who would greet him. But she wouldn't let that taint her bravery.

Fearlessly, she exited the hanger, advancing down a long corridor to where she was guided. As she approached the next door, it opened automatically for her, and she stepped briskly inside.

The room she had been guided to was a massive dome-shaped room, with giant posters of various rock bands hung up everywhere. Electric guitars of all variety were on two separate shelves. In addition, there were posters and pictures from various computer PC games all over.

Her senses were drawn to the center of the massive room. A chair was rocking up and down in front of a computer, and loud rock music was playing from it. An annoying buzzing noise also resonated through the room. However, as soon as she said something the music turned off, the chair spun around, revealing "Mr. Fudgeicle."

He was nothing like Cosmo was expecting. She looked upon an obese black-purple wasp/fly hybrid, with no legs and purple tassels draped over his spiny body. She also noticed two spiked chakrams grafted onto his back.

"Greetings, Seedrian." The wasp greeted.

"Who are you?"

"I am Beelzebub, the Lord of Flies... aka, Mr. Fudgeicle," the creature introduced himself, with a smug smile.

Immediately, Cosmo noticed a large crate of fudge bars sitting on Beelzebub's desk.

"So, you are the Mr. Fudgeicle who sent us that message!"

"Ohhhh yeahhh," Beelzebub sang like in the song _Oh Yeah_ by Stella.

"Why did you tell me to come here?" Asked Cosmo.

Beelzebub grinned evilly, and with the push of a button, the doors behind Cosmo slammed shut like lightening, startling her and making her jump slightly.

"Who do you think I am, baby? I'm Super-B! Now, **FEEL THE FUDGE! WROOOOOOAAHHH!**" The Lord of Flies roared like a heavy metal rocker, giving Cosmo the finger. Suddenly, a guitar and a microphone appeared in his hands.

Instantly, rock music loud enough to destroy a small building started rockin' out throughout the room.

The young Seedrian screamed as she covered her ears; had she not, she was sure her eardrums would explode. "STOP! PLEASE!" Cosmo begged, but she couldn't even hear herself over the music. However, Beelzebub did hear her, and the music quickly stopped.

"Heheh, sorry, I just love doin' that," Beelzebub apologized, putting away the guitar and microphone, "But really, the real reason I wanted you to come here was that I need to run a chemical test on your kind, and because you're are the last Seedrian specimen, I will have to use you."

The Lord of Flies turned back to his desk and got out two fudge bars, which he promptly devoured in a single bite, chocolate dripping down his lips.

"Unfortunately, I can't let you leave, so for now, you are officially my prisoner." Of course, Beelzebub didn't disclose his true plans for her, at least for now.

...

"Where's Cosmo? It's been almost a half-hour since she left," Sonic asked.

"She must've run into trouble. I have to go save her!" Tails said, getting up promptly to exit the bridge.

"Wait, Tails! Let me go. Maybe I can find her and talk with this... Mr. Fudgeicle," Chris said.

"Are you sure?" Amy said.

"Don't worry, I'll be back," Chris said, running out of the bridge to the hanger.

...

"Now hold on a minute, Mr. Fudgeicle, can't we just solve this peacefully? Why..." Chris tried to negotiate with the Lord of Flies, but with no avail. Cosmo was cowering behind his body.

"Okay, hold on! One; for the last time, my name isn't really Mr. Fudgeicle. It's Beelzebub, the Lord of Flies. Get the message, human ape? And two; I'm sorry, but I'm really not in the mood to negotiate, so could you please just leave?" Beelzebub spoke to Chris.

Before Chris could reply, Beelzebub took another handful of fudge bars and munched them down.

Cosmo came up and turned to Chris. "I'm really sorry, Chris. I didn't want to get you into this mess." Cosmo apologized regretfully, tears welling up in her eyes.

"Hey, don't worry. We thought you were in trouble, and I volunteered to help. I _wanted _to help you. Ya know, you bravery kinda reminds me of myself when I was a bit younger," Chris chuckled with a big smile.

"Really? How?" Cosmo asked.

"I'll tell you when we get back. Let's go!" Chris tried to leave with her hand in his.

"Hey, hold on! Cosmo stays here. I need her for something, and as it turns out, it's not just a chemical test too!" Beelzebub yelled at them.

"What else do you want with her?" Chris asked.

The Lord of Flies concocted a totally cruel smile, "Let's just say; come back in about 9 months, and you'll get a _big_ surprise!" Beelzebub suddenly took out a mirror and smiled at his own image, his stinger starting to drip with acid in arousal.

The jaws of Chris and Cosmo instantly dropped in shock; they both knew all too well what he meant.

"EEWWW!" Cosmo yelled, taking cover behind Chris.

"You pervert!" Chris cried out at him With that, Chris took a flash-bang he had put in his pocket before he left and threw it to the ground, blinding the room in a void of white light. Grabbing onto Cosmo, he made a break for it and tore out of the room.

Beelzebub, meanwhile, didn't move an inch. "Wow, this is retarded. Man, the things Al Kahn and 4Kids do to these innocent kids these days... I'll give 'em a head-start. Not like they're gonna be able to escape, with the hanger in lockdown."

...

Cosmo and Chris ran as fast as they could down the hallway, towards the hanger where the Tornado 5 was parked.

However, before they could make it, the massive door shut slowly in front of them, blocking their exit.

The duo stopped as Chris got something out of his pocket. "Don't worry, I have everything under control!" Taking out a tiny disk, he pressed a minuscule button in its center. Before either of them could move, a powerful blast, remotely fired from the Tornado 5, ripped a large hole in the door.

"Let's get outta here!" Chris yelled, about to run.

All of a sudden, Cosmo heard a loud buzzing noise screech through the air behind them. But by then, it was too late.

Everything from there seemed to go into slow-motion; Beelzebub bolted down the corridor with his gigantic stinger brandished, faster than anyone could react. He flew within inches of Chris, and he immediately impaled his stinger through Chris's chest like a giant hook.

Chris simply stood there, stunned, as crimson blood started to stain his orange spacesuit and the light-green acid dripping from the stinger started to blister his skin in hideous ways.

As the Lord of Flies pulled out his stinger, Chris limp body fell to the ground, blood slowly pumping over the floor. The wound was so wide that it was possible to see a part of his kidneys and his liver.

"Oh my god, CHRIS!" Cosmo gasped in terror, rushing over to his side.

Beelzebub, meanwhile, looked at his stinger thoughtfully; blood and acid covered it, along with small bits of muscle and bone. Then, he looked at the result; the nearly dead form of Chris lying limply on the ground.

However, with a simple swipe of his hand and a shout of "Chaos Regeneration!" the bleeding stopped, and all the infectious bacteria disappeared. Thanks to the power of his Chaos Regeneration, he wouldn't go into shock or bleed to death, but he would still suffer blood loss and organ damage for a while afterward, along with having quite a big hole in his body to sew up.

"Yeah, you got pwned bitch! I feel like it's been forever since I used my stinger. Now, Cosmo, you're not going anywhere, 'cause THAT is what happens when you mess with the **FUDGEICLE! WROOOOAAAAHHHH!**" The Lord of Flies screamed like a heavy rocker again as he grabbed the duo and dragged them back to his room.

...

By now, of course, Tails was mightily pissed off, now that Chris had been gone too.

"Okay, that's it! I'm going in there to find Cosmo and I'm gonna whup that Mr. Fudgeicle's asshole really good, and none of you are gonna stop me!" Tails yelled in disgust.

"But Tails..." Sonic was about to say.

"NO! No buts! Nothing you say will change my mind, so don't even try. I'm going to get them, and I won't come back until Chris and Cosmo are safe with me!" Tails yelled, storming out of the bridge.

Sonic and Knuckles exchanged apprehensive glances.

"When did he become so angry and moody, and mature?" Knuckles asked.

"I dunno, but recently, he's been acting strange. He's having odd mood swings, and I have noticed him sweating a bit whenever he's next to Cosmo. I swear I also saw a few pimples on his back too," Sonic told him.

"Really?" Amy asked, getting up from her seat.

"Yeah. But they were really hard to notice unless you were right next to him," Sonic said.

"Do you really think... he's going through puberty?" Amy asked. Knuckles gave her an astonished look.

"But Tails is only 8 years old! It isn't possible for him to start puberty at that age..."

"Perhaps it isn't all natural selection. Maybe that parasite Satan told us about back in the Metarex base has something to do with it," Sonic wondered.

"You mean... the Shroud?" Amy asked.

"Yeah. I have a feeling that his Shroud infection has something to do with his rapid growth. But I'm not certain." Sonic explained.

"Well, nothing is certain yet." Knuckles dismissed.

...

Tails landed in a large black room, but it was alight by the most unlikely thing; a room full of fake Chaos Emeralds, with colors different than their colored auras.

"What the hell... What's with all these fake Emeralds...?" Tails muttered to himself, but then, he spied a large circular hatch in the ceiling, open as if it was waiting.

"_Hello Tails, I know you are there. You can come on up now_," A voice called from the top of the hole.

Using his flight ability, Tails flew up through the hole, into a large domed room filled with posters. He was also being watched by a fly-wasp hybrid sitting on a revolving chair.

"Heheheh, hello. My name is Beelzebub the Lord of Flies, but you and all your friends know me as Mr. Fudgeicle. So, you are the Chosen One? I wasn't expecting someone of your reputation being so young; only 8 years old, I heard." Beelzebub told Tails.

"Well, hey, I _am_ full of surprises. Now, where's Cosmo and Chris?" Tails asked.

"I'll tell you later. There is something I must do with you first. Lord Maledict says that you are the prophesied Chosen One, and I am curious to know what gives you the power to have such a title. As such, I have created two mutated Hell Knights to fight you, and I will record your power levels for future reference." Beelzebub spoke.

"For the last time, I'm not gonna take part in your little lab test! Where the hell is Cosmo and Chris?" Tails was starting to get angry.

"Why should I tell you?" Beelzebub rolled his eyes. "You their husband or gay lover, or something?"

Tails felt a fury he had never known before well up inside him, the rage beginning to guide his words. "If you don't tell me where the fuck they are within five seconds..."

"Okay, take a chill pill. They're right here." Beelzebub said, pushing a button on his chair.

From right out of the floor, near his desks, a large glass case rose on a pedestal. Inside the case on the pedestal was Cosmo, clawing at the glass in pain, and the limp unconscious form of Chris, with a giant hole ripped open in his chest.

"TAILS! DON'T LISTEN TO HIM! IT'S A TRAP!" Cosmo desperately tried to scream, but the glass case completely muted her voice. She banged against the glass, but nothing happened. Tails, too shocked for words, didn't even move. From her actions and mouth movement, Tails could see she was trying to yell something at him, and that she was in extreme pain, but no sound was coming out of the glass.

From a tiny hatch in ther pedastel, a thin mechanical arm with a syringe extended. Cosmo, noticing it, attempted to back away, but it quickly jabbed into her left leg, and within about two seconds, her body fell as limp as a bonefish.

Before Tails could do anything, the capsule slowly descended into the floor, taking Tails's loved one away.

"Oh my god..." Tails said, before he held his head in pain and kneeled to the ground. "What... What... What did you do to them?"

"Cosmo was foolish to come here, and she is now my bitch. Chris attempted to rescue her, and as you can see, he was taught a very painful lesson. And _that _is what happens when you mess with the Fudgeicle! **WROOOOAAAAHHHH!**" Beelzebub laughed.

Even though Tails didn't notice it, the two Hell Knights Beelzebub had prepared both teleported into the room, on both sides of the Lord of Flies. They looked like normal Hell Knights, with the tall heights and gigantic muscles found on all of them.

However, the also were different; they had missile launchers attached to their shoulders, and they had four massive arms instead of just two. One of them had a silver tint to their leathery skin; the other had a gold color. The silver one had large cybernetic implants in its legs; the gold one had implants in its arms.

"These are the Hell Knights I created. I named them Silver and Gold, as nicknames. Gold will test your strength, and Silver will test your speed. You will battle them, and I will record the data from the battle." Beelzebub explained.

As he finished, the Lord of Flies suddenly noticed that Tails's fur had suddenly gone dark-green, and a smoky aura had appeared over his fur. He could also tell that Tails's muscles became just a bit more pronounced.

"Hmm?" Beelzebub asked.

Tails simply responded with a demonic laugh, still not even facing Beelzebub. Without warning, he vanished, and appeared out of nowhere right behind Silver.

Before Silver could even turn around, Shroud Tails did a slashing motion and disappeared. At first, it looked like it didn't do anything, but suddenly, Silver's body ripped right in half from the head to the torso, crimson blood and organs exploding all over the floor.

Reappearing in front of Gold, he did a similar motion, except this time to the head. Immediately, the head of Gold was sliced off by Tails's sheer power, with blood pouring out of the body as it collapsed, with the brain falling right out and sloshing around the floor.

Beelzebub backed away slowly and sat down as Shroud Tails stood and laughed in triumph over the mutilated bodies of his enemies, blood covering his gloves and shoes.

"Tails, what the hell are you doing? Calm down!" A voice suddenly was heard from out of nowhere.

Tails could remember the voice very well; the voice of Dr. Robotnik.

"I've never seen you THIS angry before! What happened to you?" Eggman asked as he appeared from the shadows with his two robots Decoe and Bocoe beside him.

"Yeah really, what set you off?" Becoe asked. Tails slowly started to change back; his eyes turned to normal, and so did his fur.

"Next time, Tails, don't let your protectiveness of Cosmo go out of control. And don't worry about her and Chris, Tails; we were able to find them on the way in."

Eggman suddenly turned towards Beelzebub. "And YOU, Beelzebub! I really don't like the way you nearly killed Chris and tried to rape Cosmo! Even I find it really sick that you tried to randomly rape an innocent girl and then brutally stab her friend. Sure, I may be an evil genius, but I don't rape innocent kids like some paedophile!"

Beelzebub just sat in his chair intently, with a bored look on his face.

"I also don't like your fake Emeralds. If you and Maledict want them so much, go and find them yourselves. Oh, and another thing..."

"SHUT UP! Are you really trying to teach _me_, Lord Maledict's right-hand man, how to be a good villain, when _you_ can't even make a machine that works? Ha, I say! And do you know what else I say? I say **ROME ROME DOME DOME!**" Beelzebub randomly screamed again.

"Would you stop screaming like that every few seconds?" Eggman asked.

"No." Beelzebub replied as he munched down another fudge bar.

Robotnik sighed in apathy, and his two robots exchanged glances. "How does Maledict put up with you?"

"At least I'm not from Mobius, aka. A World Without Fudge. Lord Maledict likes me so much because I rock _that _hard."

"Well, that is why I am happy that I decided to split with you and Satan."

"Fuck you, you don't..."

Tails didn't hear the rest of the conversation, because by that point, he left and returned to his Tornado 5.

...

As the Chosen One began descending onto the deck, he recognized everyone except Chris and Cosmo eagerly waiting for him. Opening up the glass cockpit, he jumped out of his plane, feeling everyone's attention.

"TAILS!" He heard Cosmo's voice cry out. Before he could turn toward her direction, she instantly glomped him tightly, like Amy often did to Sonic. She buried her head into his chest fur, tears of joy pouring out of her eyes. Tails couldn't help but feel his face turn a deep scarlet.

"... I'm so sorry. If I wasn't so stupid, none of this would've happened..." Cosmo tearfully apologized.

"Shhhh... It's okay now, we're all safe," Tails turned his attention to his other friends. "Where's Chris?"

"He's in the hospital ward right now, sleeping peacefully. Beelzebub apparently used Chaos Regeneration on him so that he wouldn't bleed to death or get an infection, but he still has quite a large hole in his body," Knuckles explained.

"That's good news," Tails responded. "I'll help him once we get as far away from here as we can."

"Right! I'm gonna go up to the bridge and Warp us away." Amy suggested. Tails nodded; there was no way he wanted to stay here any longer than needed.


	16. Episode 68: Molly's Dream

Next chapter, and one that I have been looking forward to.

Get out some tissues, folks, 'cause you're gonna need them.

...

**Episode 68: Molly's Dream**

Outside the Milky Way Galaxy, protected by a fleet of millions of warships, was Lord Maledict's personal flagship, the DSS _Leviathan_, which was in the same ship class of its sister prototype ship, the DSS _Ascendant Justice_. The _Leviathan_, named after Maledict's pet sea monster of mythology, was much more infamous, however, because it was used considerably more often.

75 kilometers in length, it was crewed by over a million individuals, and along with being one of the most powerful Demon battleships, it was equipped with a coaxial power-laser strong enough to boil the crust of an entire planet, along with vaporize any conceivable capital ship in a single shot. However, it was very difficult to aim with any accuracy, for the whole ship needed to be pointing in one direction to fire.

Aboard the bridge of the _Leviathan _stood a young Demon officer named Kaptain Firmus D'Arnazhee, the assistant kommander of the flagship.

The only reason D'Arnazhee was currently leading the ship was because all of his successors enraged Lord Maledict, who promptly and personally executed them for their incompetence. Firmusdesperately hoped that he would not become the next victim, but deep inside, he felt Satan's patience growing thin, even though D'Arnazhee had an exemplary service record.

The Kaptain strolled briskly and at attention towards a normally ordinary room.

However, this room was anything but ordinary. As the large door hissed open, D'Arnazhee stepped inside a large circular chamber.

Almost as soon as he walked in, he prostrated himself before the pod in the middle of the room, for Lord Maledicthimself was inside.

However, right now, Maledict's appearance was almost too disgusting to contemplate.

The Devil was floating inside a large capsule of healing fluid, without his cloak on. As such, all of his scars and wounds were revealed. Virtually all of his gray bodily flesh was gone; most of his organs were completely visible, pumping and pulsating in their activities.

Nearly all of his nerves, veins, and arteries hung droopingly around his body, like a tangled ball of yarn. Many electric wires also crisscrossed his mangled body. His bones were twisted masses of marrow and tissue, as if they weren't bones, but as if they were giant broken sticks from trees. Most of his bones were also jutting out of what little skin he had left. He didn't even look like a discernible creature without his body covered up, for he was far too hideous of a sight to behold. His reptilian legs, which weren't his real legs, were attached via mechanical sockets to his body.

There was no way to describe the horror that lay under Lord Maledict's dark cloak.

"... My lord?" D'Arnazhee spoke softly, gagging a bit at the sight.

It was obvious that Satan heard him, for as soon as he said it, the healing fluid from the pod started to drain, until it was totally dry. Two large mechanical arms came down from the ceiling, holding a set of beautiful golden power armour.

With a hiss, the armour latched onto Maledict's whole body tightly, preventing any of his body systems from simply falling apart. The armour was literally the only thing keeping him whole, without the healing fluid to sustain him.

Finally, from the ceiling, the two mechanical arms came back down, this time holding his long black cloak. The arms put it over his armour, and retracted up once again. A large chair also rose from the center, just behind Satan, who sat back in it. Now, only his intact head was visible and not covered.

With that, Lord Maledict spun around in his chair. "Yes, Kaptain, what is it now?"

The captain gulped nervously. "The fleet has moved out of Warpspace just outside the Milky Way. ComScanhasdetected the locations of the two foxes you were searching for, on the planet of Cascade. We have also detected numerous small Angel fleets moving across the Border. Groups of Hunters have been detected on several worlds."

Unbenknownst to everyone except himself, Lord Maledict had in fact knew all along where Tsali and Trinity had gone, and why Tsali was away. He had been forced to play dumb and say he didn't know where they were to Beelzebub and Astorath.

It was okay, though; not even his closest friends knew the entirety of Maledict's over-dramatic and ridiculously elaborate master plan.

Satan smiled slightly, preparing to play dumb in the face of his subordinates. "Yes... Very good. The Federation will keep them - and the Metarex - occupied for some time. And... what of Sonic and the Blue Typhoon?"

"We found a ship of similar design moving near the rim. Status unknown."

"It's definitely the Typhoon. And I'm sure young Sonic is on board. Any reports on Dark Tails?" Maledict asked.

"Negative, _Zir_. He has not been detected for some time. Other then abnormal Dark Chaos Energy readings, the Dark Chaos creature has not been seen in person since the attack on the Snakebite Fleet a few weeks ago."

"Make note of those locations, for I am sure he will return to them eventually."

"Ummm..." The Kaptain started to say.

"Yes, Kaptain?" Maledict asked.

"... Just a few minutes ago, Your Lordship, we discovered a large abnormality of Dark Chaos Energy in the same location that the two foxes were detected. We do not know if this is Dark Tails, however."

"Ah, okay. Investigate the power readings. If it's over 9000, then it's Dark Tails." Satan explained.

"By the way, Cascadeis also the planet where all those anti-Demon human rebels are based all over. Tsalidestroyed Cascade, but they still fight against us. What are your orders?" D'Arnazhee asked.

"Once you make contact with Tsali andTrinity, make an example of Planet Cascade, and burn their planet to ashes. I am tired of sparing those that aim to hinder us. Slaughter all of the rebels without mercy." Lord Maledict ordered.

Without warning, the door behind the Kaptain opened up, and another, more junior officer ran in. Quickly prostrating himself before Satan and then standing up, he quickly turned towards D'Arnazhee and saluted.

"_Zir_, we have a confirmation on the Dark Chaos anomaly; it has a power level of over 9000, and it must indeed be Dark Tails! And we have detected a large emerald-green battleship moving towards Cascade. Allegiance unknown." The officer spoke.

"Ah yes, that ship is the Dreadnought. It's crewed by Eric the Hedgehog and his buddies, who are all Sonic's allies. I wasn't expecting to run into them." The Devil explained. Once again, he played dumb, as he had already foreseen this.

With that, the junior officer briskly strolled out of the room back to his station.

"_Zir_, exactly what is your battle plan?" The Kaptain asked.

Maledict stroked his chin and explained. "Do not land on the planet or attack it right away. Warp far enough so that the fleet is not detected. When I give the signal that everything is ready, advance and burn the planet to ashes immediately when you come within cannon range."

"Why must we wait for them?" The Kaptain asked again.

"Nevermind that. Just follow my orders, please," Lord Maledict asked.

D'Arnazhee looked almost shocked, but then, regaining himself, he bowed deeply to the lord of hosts.

"Yes, my lord." With that, D'Arnazhee turned and briskly walked out of the room, leaving the Devil alone.

...

Meanwhile, on the unusual planet of Cascade, the familiar emerald-green Star Destroyer-esque battleship known as the Dreadnought was parked on a large rocky plateau.

When they had originally arrived in the system, they had found a group of rebels fighting against a Metarex frigate. Using the Dreadnought's weapons, however, they quickly helped out and turned the frigate into smoking toast.

For their support, they had been invited to the rebel base on the surface. Obviously, Eric and his friends wasted no time in getting to where the party was at.

Eric and his friends walked into the meeting room of the rebel base. A group of the rebels were waiting for them, dressed in everyday clothes. They looked tired, but very happy.

"Hey there! We are indebted to you for helping us!" A young human woman, with scarlet hair and cheery eyes, stepped forward to greet them.

"Aw hey, it was nuthin'," Nolan said, flattered by her praise.

"My name's Molly," the girl introduced himself.

"Hey there, Molly. I'm Eric; Eric the Hedgehog! And these are all my pals," Eric said a quick introduction.

From the background, another human stepped forth. He had chestnut-brown hair, and was a bit taller than Molly.

"I'm Leon, the leader of the resistance. There is no way that I can thank you enough for your help." The man said.

"Well, we saw that you were in a bit of a jam, so we decided to go out of our way and help!" Sonya stepped forward, with Chase by her side.

Eric and his friends all proceeded to the meeting table and sat down like lazy monkeys.

"Now, Leon, I did notice that this planet is mostly destroyed. Tell us more about yourselves and your home," Eric requested.

"Sure. You see, Eric, our planet was once a beautiful paradise, and was the center of a prosperous empire of peace and order." Leon started to explain thoughtfully.

"... But about 25 years ago, that all changed. A young being, powerful beyond measure, destroyed this planet and killed many of us. We formed our group as a way to survive in the bleak wastelands he left in his wake."

"What was the being that did this to all you?" Chase asked. The other rebels slumped back in their chairs, apparently not wanting to say.

Leon paused for a moment. "... We do not speak his name under normal circumstances. We know him as _Kuro no Kaze_... the Black Wind. However, you space travellers most likely know him as Tsali, the Ultimate Weapon."

The heads of Eric and his friends looked around at each other in surprise.

"**Tsali** did this to you?" Eric asked.

"Yes. He came to our planet, and threatened our leader with extinction if he didn't tell us where the ship carrying the last group of refugee Seedrians was. Our planet always had friendly relations with them, and we knew all about Tsali's crimes, so our leader refused to tell him. In reply, Tsali murdered him on the spot, and devastated our homeworld in the brutal massacre that followed. Around 90 percent of the whole population of this planet was murdered by that crazed android fox."

"Tsali... that bastard!" Nolan yelled.

Molly shifted a little bit closer and put her hand around Leon's shoulder.

"And that was just the beginning. Very soon afterward, the Demon Empire came to try and take over what remained, and we fought against them. We've been able to resist them so far... But not for much longer can we keep fighting the might of the Devil." Leon added.

"Well, what a coincidence. We just so happened to end up fighting Maledict ourselves as well," Eric said.

"Really? Good. In recognition for your efforts with us, we would like to offer you this." Leon held up a small wooden box.

He opened the lid; inside, resting snugly, was a Chaos Emerald.

"A Chaos Emerald!" Nolan exclaimed.

"We don't have a use for it, so we'll give it to you."

"Thanks a lot! We have been searching for them to keep them away from Tsali and Maledict, so you're making a good choice by giving them to us." Eric told them with a smile.

"Hey, why don't you stay for a little while? We were just going to prepare a big dinner tonight!" Molly offered.

"Sure thing!" Let's just go back to the ship to get some stuff of ours! We'll be right back!" Sonya said.

With that, Eric and his pals left the room. However, Shadow stayed behind.

Walking over next to Molly, he breathed deeply and nervously. "Hi there."

"Oh, hey there. Come on, you can sit down next to me," Molly spoke gently and sweetly. Without second though, Shadow sat on the seat right next to her.

Suddenly, all the old memories of his past came into being, about Maria and the ARK and Gerald Robotnik. _So much like Maria..._

Shadow soon spotted Leon also coming up next to Molly, and giving her a small peck on the cheek.

Afterwards, Molly bent down to the Ultimate Lifeform.

"Yeah, I don't think I mentioned it, but me and Leon are engaged." Molly whispered to Shadow, with a small giggle.

"Really? Congrats to you both," Shadow spoke.

"Thanks!" Molly thanked, straightening up in her seat.

...

Meanwhile, on the other side of the planet, an altogether different sort of meeting was taking place.

The dynamic duo of Tsali and Trinity strolled into a large circular arena-like chamber, with the roof opened. It looked abandoned, and worn-out.

Suddenly, Tsali began to feel something odd in the air; the unmistakable vibrations of Chaos Energy.

"I feel some kind of Chaos Energy coming from over there..." Tsali said, pointing towards the center of the room.

Before the pair could advance, the ground started to rumble a bit, and the floor of the center cracked open. In its place, large black vines started to grow, splitting the floor and waving madly.

Before they could react, a large bud of a giant poison-black flower grew out of the floor.

And as it opened, Tsali and Trinity found none other than Venus the Seedrian.

Tsali stepped forward courageously. "Venus! I mean you no harm. I only wish to ask you a question."

However, Venus suddenly levitated out of the bud and landed on the floor. A cruel smile suddenly crawled over her scarred features.

"**_Do you not feel it, Tsali? Your time is slowly running out!_**" Venus spoke hatefully, her voice having a demonic undertone echoing behind it.

"**_Soon, everything will be Corrupted... including YOU!_**"

With that, her eyes suddenly glowed a bright blue, and more black vines started to grow around her body. She also pulled out her giant scythe, which suddenly turned a bright blue.

And it was at that moment that Tsali saw what was wrong.

In her voice, in her appearance, in her demeanor, he saw the very guise of Dark Tails, possessing her and making her do his will.

"What... What does she mean?" Trinity asked, not understanding.

Tsali looked over at him. "Trinity... Get ready!" Tsali pulled out his black Dark Emerald, and prepared a barrage of Dark Chaos Spears in his hands. Likewise, following Tsali, Trinity did the same.

As Venus rose in the air, the vines suddenly shot out of the ground and tried to slap the two foxes like tentacles. However, Tsali and Trinity both jumped in opposite directions, dodging the attack.

Retuning himself, Tsali launched a burst of Chaos Spears at Venus, but a vine suddenly grew and blocked the blue bolts of energy.

Before even he could react, a clump of vines appeared behind him and wrapped around his body tightly, immobilizing him.

However, Trinity jumped in, claw blades at the ready, and severed the vines with a flurry of well-timed punches.

Tsali nodded at him in thanks, and the two of them stared at Venus, who was unfazed.

"Okay, Venus, if you want us to play weedwhacker, then we're not afraid of the job!" Tsali cleverly said a well-timed pun, not retarded and never-ending like the ones used by 4Kids, but an actually clever and funny one.

"Ready, Trinity?"

With that, both Tsali and Trinity extended their arms forward, Emeralds in hand.

"**CHAOS SUPERBLAST!**"

With their combined power, the duo unleashed a giant laserbeam of energy, partially white, and partially black.

Venus attempted to block it with her overgrown vines, but the beam severed the vines in half as if they weren't even there.

The beam hit Venus square in the stomach, throwing her to the floor, before fizzling out of the air.

Tsali and Trinity, both drained by the attack, now looked upon a heavily weakened Venus. Her body was twitching and shaking violently, as if she was possessed. Her scythe lay fractured behind her, broken in two. The vines all around the room had been vaporized in the blast, so the floor was now cracked.

Finally, she let go of the pain, and crawled towards them.

"... Tsali..." Venus was able to whisper out, coughing.

The two foxes walked towards her limp form slowly.

"Yes, Venus?" Tsali asked. There was not a single hint of cruelty in his voice, much to Trinity's surprise, since he was dealing with a Seedrian.

"... Take this... Please... Find the truths Satan has been hiding from you... and stop this mindless violence..." Venus replied. She slid a small electronic card across the floor.

Tsali picked it up; it was green, and had Seedrian writing on it.

"What's this?" Tsali asked.

"It is the key... The secrets of your life and your past... lie on Planet Seedrius... It is the only way to unlock... unlock..." Venus stuttered, coughing again.

"Unlock...?" Tsali asked.

"The door... under the facility on Seedrius where you were created... the very door that leads to what you have been looking for ever since Maledict took you in..." Venus tried to explain.

Tsali had nothing to say this time, but only looked at the card in his hand intently.

"Tsali... I have... a request..." Venus asked.

By now, Tsali had genuinely felt like answering her, perhaps for the first time. Because she was an honourable foe and a worthy enemy, he decided to listen.

"Yes?"

Venus struggled as the control of the Dark Kitsune began to come over her once again.

"Tell Cosmo, the next time you see her... I'm so sorry..." Venus requested.

Before Tsali could reply, she started twitching and shaking violently again.

Without warning, before either of them could do anything to save her, a giant vine shot out of the ground right beneath Venus, brutally impaling her and slamming her form against the floor in the center of the room.

With that _coup de grace_, Venus the Seedrian was no more.

Tsali and Trinity both stood there silently, in shock. Tsali, for perhaps the first time in his life, suddenly felt a twinge of what normal people call compassion. It felt strange to him, the feeling of sorriness for another, having only known a life of killing someone the moment they begged for mercy.

Suddenly, a puddle of blue goop spread around Venus's body, and her dead form was levitated into the air by an unseen energy.

Slowly, her body started to dissolve into blue particles of Chaos Energy, which finally scattered throughout the air like ashes in the wind. Her Doma Emerald, the Emerald she was keeping, also was absorbed into the particles and phased out of existence.

With that, the familiar echo-laugh of Dark Tails sounded through the room, ending the confrontation, and confirming Tsali's fears.

Tsali looked at Trinity with a sad face. "There's nothing we can do now, Trinity. Now, we can only make contact with Maledict, and then go to Planet Seedrius."

"So, was that the first time you ever listened to a Seedrian?" Trinity asked.

Tsali paused for a moment, ignoring Trinity's question. "I sense more strong Chaos vibrations somewhere nearby. It must be a Chaos Emerald, I have no doubt. And I sense Eric and his friends as well making friends with the rebels here. I think it is time I taught them a lesson, in order to put on a show for Maledict and regain his trust. Trinity, you stay here for a second. I won't be long." Tsali spoke without emotion.

From his tail fur, Tsali quickly pulled out a gleaming Daverak .540 plasma magnum, which looked like it had just come off the assembly line.

With that, the Ultimate Weapon teleported out of the room. Trinity did not follow, for he was far too nervous and insecure to do anything about it.

...

Eric and his friends were walking with Molly on a barren plateau. The sky was cloudy with gray fluffy balls of vapor casting a shroud over the world.

"So, Molly, I had a question; do you or anyone else with you know anything about who Tsali really is?" Shadow asked.

"Not much. I only know that his original homeworld was destroyed by the Demons, about 30 years ago. However, that's about it."

At that moment, Molly looked at the ground. "Ya know, Tsali isn't some unknown mental case. In fact, he's the most notorious killer in the Milky Way. The bounty-hunting industry has flourished because of so many people who have decided to hunt him. There is a reward of 5 quadrillion kredits on his head, and he has a death sentence on over 200 star systems. Security forces all over have orders to kill Tsali on sight, no questions asked."

"Well, that's not so surprising. After all, we have already seen the terror he unleashed firsthand..." Sonya said.

"How?" Molly asked.

"Through Cosmo the Seedrian, the last remaining Seedrian alive. She joined with our buddies Sonic and his crew, as a means of escape from Tsali's wrath. The poor girl is virtually traumatized and scarred for life because of him." Sonya replied.

"**COSMO?** You know Cosmo?" Molly exclaimed.

"... Yeah. Why do you ask?" Eric asked.

"Cosmo is much more famous than you think, being the only survivor of Tsali's genocide. There are a lot of groups dedicating themselves to protecting her from him." Molly explained to them.

"Really? I didn't know that," Mighty spoke up.

There was a short pause, then Molly spoke up again.

"For all my life, I have only known suffering. But I have a dream. A dream that one day, all creatures can live in harmony. A dream that this world will become beautiful and prosperous once again. A dream that the Milky Way Galaxy will finally know peace. I don't care if I die before I see my dream realized, because I know that I will have a happy afterlife with Altus, and walk humbly with Him." Molly explained.

"That's a very good dream to hope for. When did you think of it?" Shadow asked, moving closer to her.

"I have been thinking about it for as long as I can remember. And I will always have hope for it." Molly spoke.

Their walk was suddenly interrupted by the loud engines of a squadron of rebel fighters flying over them.

Shadow suddenly kneeled on the ground, holding his head in pain. "Owww..."

"Shadow! You okay?" Molly asked, coming to his aid.

"I feel some sort of... strange energy... a dark energy... thick and powerful..." Shadow muttered through his pain.

Suddenly, out of thin air, a streak of blue energy bolts ripped through a dimensional hole, straight towards one of Molly's comrades.

It was going way too fast to dodge. The energy slashed through the plane instantly, vaporizing both it and the rebel pilot inside.

Without pause, more blue bolts of energy also spewed out, shooting down the planes.

One of the planes, which Molly recognized as Leon's fighter, didn't explode. It went into a spin and was able to skid to a rough landing nearby.

Out of the wreckage, the coughing form of Leon crawled out of the flames. He was ultra-lucky to have survived.

"Leon! Are you alright?" Molly screamed to him, running towards his location.

But that's when Shadow and the others noticed something else as well; a blue Chaos Control portal appeared in the sky, and was starting to shrink slightly.

"Molly! Look out!" Shadow warned.

But it was too late. As she ran, she suddenly skid to a halt when a large pillar of Dark Chaos Energy came between her and Leon. She fell backwards in surprise, hitting the ground hard.

And as the pillar dissipated, the familiar black form of Tsali himself stepped out of the blue light, with a Daverek .540 plasma magnum his hand. The two humans gasped in terror.

"TSALI!" Leon growled at the fox, charging with all of his strength towards the android.

However, in the blink of an eye, Tsali turned around, and with a swipe of his hand, Leon was thrown back into a rock wall by an unseen force. The impact was enough to make him pass out, already weakened by the crash.

Before Molly could run away, Tsali turned around again, this time with his magnum pointed straight at Molly's head.

"I don't think so." Tsali said, completely without any emotion.

"What do you want now, Tsali?" Shadow shouted at him. Molly was too stunned to get up from the ground, especially with the Ultimate Weapon himself pointing a gun at her.

"You already know what I want. Give me your Chaos Emerald," Tsali cocked the safety catch of the magnum, "Or Molly dies. Simple as that."

Eric and his friends didn't move a muscle, in defiance of Tsali's ultimatum.

"I'm going to count to ten. At ten, I pull this trigger, and she dies. If you give me the Emerald, I will spare her and all of you too. Plain and simple this time. No muss, no fuss." Tsali spoke, readying his aim.

"No, Tsali! We won't do it!" Nolan retorted.

"One..."

"Wait Tsali, hold on!" Chase pleaded.

"Two..."

"Don't do this, Tsali! Stop the countdown, now!" Fang yelled, readying his sniper rifle.

"Three..."

"NO! Tsali, _PLEASE_!" Sonya begged.

"Four..."

"Hold on!" Mighty also tried to shout.

"Five..."

"Guys, he's isn't gonna back off!" Nolan warned.

"Six..."

"C'mon!"

"Seven..."

"No! Wait!" Eric spoke.

"Eight..."

"Get him! Somebody!"

"Nine..."

"**FINE! **Tsali, you can have it!" Shadow yielded the Chaos Emerald, which he held up in his hand.

Tsali instantly stopped the countdown, smiling a little bit. He aimed the gun down, away from Molly's head.

"Take the Emerald! Just please don't hurt her!" Shadow pleaded. With a throw, he tossed the Chaos Emerald onto the ground right in front of Tsali.

Tsali, still without any emotion, bent down and picked the Emerald up in his free hand. But before anyone could tell, and with no speech, he once again raised the gun to Molly's forehead.

'W-W-What?..." Chase yelled, "You promised to let her go!"

"Young Molly, before I end your life, I have one final question for you... Do you believe in Altus, the One true God of all? Don't even try begging for mercy, because it won't work." Tsali asked.

By now, Molly wasn't scared; she was angry. The young woman solemnly nodded.

"Yes, I do believe in Him. And I also believe that before long, your reign of terror will end, and justice will prevail!" Molly spat angrily.

Suddenly, an odd sensation hit Tsali. Now, he didn't just see Molly lying before him; he saw every last person he ever killed in his life suddenly flash before his eyes, like some kind of vision.

But it didn't matter now.

Tsali's straightened up a bit, snapping out of his dreaming. "Then say hi to Him for me, will you? Goodbye."

**"NO!"**

Everything happened in slow-motion. Tsali's gloved finger pulled the trigger, sending the massive plasma-infused cartridge towards its target. In a nanosecond, it made contact, sizzling right through Molly's skull and boiling the skin layer.

The force of the bullet impact sent her doubling over backwards, blood spewing out of the massive hole in her forehead. She was dead before she even crashed upon the ground with a sickening _thud_. Pieces of cerebullem and blood slowly oozed onto the dusty soil of Cascade.

Molly, the very one Eric and his friends had just met a few hours ago, was dead.

Tsali's hands was still clamped on his gun. It was pointed upward, for the intense recoil had pushed the barrel back, and it had smoke pouring out of its barrel.

Shadow's knees buckled in despair. He slammed his fist at the ground in rage and depression.

"Oh my god, you killed Molly!" Eric exclaimed.

Nolan quickly replied to Eric's set-up, "YOU BASTARD!"

"How... This can't be..." Sonya stuttered in shock, a crescendo of tears welling up in her eyes. Chase was holding on to her leg in fright and sadness as well.

Tsali put the magnum back in his tail fur. At that moment, the very motto that Tsali lived by, taught to him by Lord Maledict himself years ago, came to mind. _"Through power, I gain victory. Through victory, my chains are broken."_

However, at the same time, even though Tsali watched it all as emotionlessly as if he had just swatted a fly, he did have an odd sensation in his stomach. Tsali shrugged off the feeling, and decided to reply.

"Eric... I have something to teach you. In this Universe, there are no rules. Rules are for nerds who don't have dicks. Killing is the law of the land. The weak have no right to live. Only the strong prevail. Fight or be doomed to die; that is the law which all life revolves around."

"What exactly does that have to do with anything? What good will all this killing and evil give you?" Eric asked.

"Oh, it means _everything_, Eric."

"Don't you see, Tsali? Life isn't like that! Life isn't all about killing and violence! Your view of the world and life in general are mistaken. Not everything is bad and cruel as you are saying they are." Sonya tried to reason with the fox.

"No, it is **YOU **who are mistaken!" Tsali pointed angrily at her, "Good and evil are illusions! There is no good, and there is no evil! I figured it out the hard way long ago, and you should do the same!"

"Tsali, I know that some people may be evil and do horrible things, but that doesn't mean everything is evil. There is still much more good and joy in life. Perhaps you haven't ever seen any, because Maledict is hiding it from you." Sonya spoke bravely.

"Don't you DARE bring him into this, faggot! He has nothing to do with this. What you are saying about everything being good and happy cannot be logically true. Only nerds and geeks think the Universe is good! All of you _NORMAL_people are the same; retarded, gay, and ugly as hell!" Tsali stubbornly refused her and stuck to his beliefs.

"I am right, Tsali. Maybe, some day, you will learn that." Sonya finished, taking a step back.

Eric was very surprised; he had never heard Sonya speak like that to anyone before. It was almost like listening to a mother talk to her child.

Shadow slowly stood up, furious tears pouring down his face. "Tsali... You will pay for this... I swear it on my life... I'll kill you... If it's the last thing I ever do..."

Before Tsali could reply in full to Shadow, the sky was quickly lit up by a brilliant sphere of rainbow light. And instantly, high in the sky, a huge Demon fleet of battleships and cruisers warped into the air.

"Sorry, Shadow, but I don't think so. Farewell for now, all of you."

With that, Tsali disappeared in a blue flash, out of sight.

Looking upwards, Eric and his friends quickly noticed large motes of bright red light collecting along various places all over the captial ships in sky; they were charging up their plasma cannons.

"Guys, we gotta get outta here! We can mourn later, but now, we have to go! They're gonna bombard the planet!" Eric yelled, sprinting back towards their ship.

Everyone, except Shadow, followed him. Shadow simply kneeled in despair beside Molly's dead form. Noticing that Shadow was lagging behind, Sonya stopped before she got too far.

"Shadow! C'mon! We gotta go!" Sonya screamed at him.

Shadow slowly stood up, looking at Molly, and then temporarily looking at Leon's unconcious body. With a tiny prayer, he turned and ran away from the scene with Sonya back to the Dreadnought.

...

A few minutes later, as the Dreadnought took off into the atmosphere, Leon woke up.

The first thing he noticed was a storm of giant red lances of plasma shooting from the sky, vaporizing anything that they impacted on the ground, and causing mini-earthquakes as they battered the ground.

Leon looked upwards; a huge Demon fleet was in the sky, glassing the surface with their cannons.

That's when Leon noticed something else as well; he saw Molly's body, laying on the ground.

"Molly! Molly!" Leon shouted in desperation as he ran with all of his strength beside her. As he came closer, Leon then saw the blood still slowly oozing from a massive hole in her head.

His worst nightmare had just become true; Molly was dead.

"No... No..." Tears streaked down Leon's face.

And that's when he heard the sound of a charging cannon just above his position. Looking up, he had time to see a beam of plasma from one of the ships lance towards him. _Molly... My love... I'm sorry..._

The last thing Leon ever saw in his concious life was the bright flash of the plasma blast hitting the ground next to him.

And then, there was only unbearable heat... and blackness.

...

Kaptain Firmus D'Arnazhee once again, for the second time today, walked into Lord Maledict's personal chamber.

However, this time, Satan wasn't in his capsule; he was totally ready for the Kaptain.

"My lord, the operation is complete. The planet of Cascade is no more. We have confirmed reports that no rebels survived the bombardment. Most of them were still hiding out in their little base, and when we destroyed it, they all died as well."

"Ah, yes. Very good work. And what of the Dreadnought?" Satan asked.

"_Zir_, we have a report on the ship leaving the atmosphere and warping away. Permission to pursue?" D'Arnazhee asked.

"No. Let them go for now." Maledict replied.

"In addition, the Dark Chaos readings are totally gone. If Dark Tails was on the planet before, he's gone now." The Kaptain spoke. "Tsali has also made contact with our sensors."

"Link him up immediately," Maledict ordered.

With a low bow, D'Arnazhee left the hallowed chamber.

As he left, the familiar guise of Tsali appeared on a large screen mounted on the back wall.

"Yo, Maledict!" Tsali greeted.

"There you are. I was wondering where you went," Satan lied to him, keeping quiet about the fact that he knew where Tsali had been, along with his recruitment of Trinity as his partner.

"Sorry I was gone. I was off on some... business." Tsali spoke.

"Anyway, Tsali, did you encounter Dark Tails on the planet?" Satan once again played dumb.

"I don't quite know. We encountered Venus the Seedrian, but she attacked us. However, when she was stunned, she was mysteriously killed, and then her body and her Doma Emerald were absorbed."

Lord Maledict pondered; Venus was dead. He knew she had been possessed by Dark Tails, but what he honestly didn't know was that the Dark Kitsune had also taken her Doma Emerald with him.

"Hmmm... I think it's about time that I looked into Dark Tails's metamorphosis and looked for a weakness. He has done far too much damage to our effort already. If this goes on long enough, he may become more of a trouble than the Metarex ever were."

"Do you need me to do anything?" Tsali asked.

"Yes. There is a certain planet that needs to be made an example of. I have already sent a fleet there. I will update your NavComputer on the location. Your orders are to go and aid the fleet." Maledict ordered.

"Okay then, bye." With that, Tsali's image disappeared.

In reality, Maledict didn't even need this mission done; he already knew that Tsali held the key to the secrets Maledict had been hiding from him, and Satan was just trying to stall for a little more time by distracting his mission to Seedrius for as long as possible.

At that moment, for the third time today, Kaptain D'Arnazhee ran into the chamber.

"Dammit... What is it _now_?" Maledict said with a loud exasperated sigh.

"My lord, we have an urgent message! We have confirmed reports that Grand Admiral Beelzebub has started rebuilding and restoring the Galaxy Crusher megaweapon!" The Kaptain spoke frantically.

This latest message was enough to actually get the Devil's attention.

"What did you say, soldier?" Satan asked in fake disbelief.

"_Zir_, the Galaxy Crusher is being reactivated!" D'Arnazhee repeated.

Maledict grunted in sarcastic annoyance. "Get Beelzebub on the line, now." As D'Arnazhee left for the final time, Beelzebub's image came onto the screen.

Satan could tell that Beelzebub was onboard the bridge of the DSS Stinger, with the partially-built Galaxy Crusher far off in the distance behind him.

Even though it was literally light-years away from Beelzebub, it was so ridiculously large that it seemed to take up the entire background of space with its sheer behemoth size.

"_Uhh... hey there, uhh... Lord Maledict... I can explain..._" Beelzebub stuttered, in surprise that Satan had gotten word of this insubordination.

"What is the meaning of this?" The Devil chastised him. The Lord of Flies gulped in nervousness.

"..._ I did this after very due consideration. Personally, Your Lordship, I am through with this pointless conflict, and this waste of our forces on such an insignificant rebellion. If the Galaxy must be destroyed in order to save it, then so be it_."

The Devil slapped his forehead. "Beelzebub! You know the standard protocol! You come to _ME_ first before you try to reactivate the Galaxy Crusher! I really don't like the idea of blowing up the Milky Way, alright? I'm not angry that you activated it. I'm angry because you tried to do it without asking me first! Next time there's a huge rebellion and there's a galaxy in need of being destroyed, you come to me."

"_Fine. But I'm still keeping it on standby just in case_." With that, Beelzebub's image also faded out.

Maledict turned to D'Arnazhee, who was still at attention.

"I'm going to organize a fleet of ships to protect the Blue Typhoon from the Angels, the Metarex, and Tsali, and I would like you to lead it. Therefore, I am hereby promoting you to Kommmodore D'Arnazhee. It's imperative that the Chosen One survives. Failure is _NOT_ an option." Satan ordered.

Thrusting out his palm, the Devil offered the badge of the rank of Kommodore. D'Arnazhee took the badge slowly, like he never dreamed this could ever happen to him.

"Now, get outta here and start formulating your strategy for protecting the Blue Typhoon. I will deal with everything else."

Promptly, the new Kommodore briskly marched out of the room.

The Devil sat back in his chair.

"Now, the final stages of my plans are about to begin. Well, if Dark Tails doesn't spoil them, that is"

...

_Day MMMLLLXXXVVVI, 6:02 DM_

_Dear Diary,_

_Today was... eventful, to say the least. We finally took care of those annoying human rebels and their planet of Cascade. Once a prennial headache to our troops, now they are nothing but a memory._

_And now, my intentions have finally been realized; Venus is dead, but she passed on her secrets to Tsali and Trinity before she joined the rest of her species in Altus's Domain. Now, I don't have much time to spring the final stages of my plan. _

_I've had enough of lying to everyone around me; it's getting very distasteful, however necessary it may be._

_And Beelzebub activating the Galaxy Crusher... I REALLY do not want to get to the point of using that thing again. It hasn't been used in trillions of years! Who knows if it'll work korrectly?_

_Anyway, now, I just looked at the scan of Dark Tails, and I found something interesting, which I'll put here for future reference. It's important, because for some reason, I am unable to foresee what the Dark Kitsune is going to do next, which is starting to worry me._

_I found an unusual connection between the bioforms of Tails and Dark Tails. Apparently, they have different body structures, but in soul and spirit, they are both one and the same. _

_Now, this is very unusual; apparently, for example, if one of them feels pain, the other does too. And if one of them becomes super-powerful, the other one does too._

_However, I do recall a section of the Prophecy. The Chosen One was described as a Divine Person sent by Altus with two natures; a light nature and a dark nature. Tails could be the Divine Person, with his normal light nature, and Dark Tails, his dark nature._

_Could Miles Prower be the Chosen One? There's lots of evidence by now that says so. I am not denying it as much as I did before._

_But, this also works in my favor. I realize because of their relation that, if one of their natures dies, then the other one dies too._

_I think I just found a way to kill Dark Tails once and for all. __If I kill Tails, then Dark Tails dies with him... But no; I cannot kill the Chosen One, for he is sent by the Most High God._

_Looks like things aren't gonna be as easy as I thought._

_/end/_


	17. Episode 69: Dark Chaos

Here we go; the most action-packed chapter yet.

Note: Extreme Taismo fluff ahoy!

...

**Episode 69: Dark Chaos**

Tephiroth the Three-Winged Angel oversaw the progress of his Milky Way incursion, codenamed Operation Halo, from the dark innards of his secret war room.

So far, the invasion was going very well. As the Demons were caught up in controlling the Metarex revolt, they offered very little resistence to the Federation.

Suddenly, a small picture-in-picture appeared over the minmap of the galaxy, and a familiar face appeared.

The figure was an adult human, with a beard and a deep Middle-Eastern complexion. His green eyes were full of planning and tact, and his tan face was illuminated by the blue glow of monitor screens from his supreme war room in New Jerusalem, the capitol of the F_e_deration.

The man was known throughout the Universe as the second-highest Angel leader; Jesus Christ himself. Modest, soft-spoken, and unassuming, he was much loved by his people and was extremely skilled in command.

"Sir." Tephiroth spoke to his higher officer. Jesus smiled softly in reply.

"_Greetings__, Tephiroth. How is Operation Halo coming_?" Christ asked.

"Very well, fortunately. Our invasion was well timed; we caught the Demons by complete surprise." The Dark Angel replied.

"_I see. Have you found Tsali yet?" _The Son of Yahweh added.

"No, sir. Trinity has also eluded us too." Tephiroth explained.

"_Well, my orders still stand; you must find and kill Tsali Z'Charon at all costs._ _W__ith the destruction of the MXS Tryphon and the death of Red Pine, it's obvious that the Metarex have no realistic chance of winning. If Tsali wipes out the Metarex, his insatiable wrath will turn on us. And if Tsali turns on us, we will lose the Eternal War."_

"Understood, sir. I will double my search immediately." Tephiroth spoke. "And what of Sonic the Hedgehog and the Blue Typhoon?"

_"We recently found out that Demon ships are protecting the Typhoon from secret orders intercepted by my agents in Caronius. Why the Demons are doing this, we still do not know. However, the Blue Typhoon's crew is still hostile to the Demons, and therefore they are not a threat to us. Do not harm them."_ Jesus clarified. Tephiroth nodded affirmatively.

At that moment, another mini-picture also appeared right beside Jesus; it was also a human, but with cybernetic implants all over his face and body. Half of his face was normal; the other was black with machine parts and lights. There were two massive cybernetic wings protruding out of his back, with spikes protruding from them. His single normal eye had a large green spyglass attached to it.

This new Angel was Metatron, the Avatar-of-War and the Supreme Archangel.

"Metatron? What do you need?" Tephiroth asked.

"_I am here to add-on to your orders. Slaughter everything in your path. We have to make sure that the Demon tyrants do not rile up the populations and trifle with us_." Metatron ordered in his gravelly, menacing tone.

Tephiroth wasn't surprised; Metatron was extremely ruthless and totally devoid of mercy, a trait which often brought him into conflict with Jesus and Yahweh. However, he was without peer in his leadership abilities, for he had more victories under his belt than any other Angel commander.

"_No_!" Jesus sharply ordered, "_They should not be killed uselessly. Tephiroth, do not carry out those orders_!"

"_And why not_?" Metatron glared at the mythological Son of Man.

"_The Angel Federation was created to liberate, not destroy. The Demons are the ones who cause destruction and death. Do you want us to be like them? Not to mention my father, as well. Yahweh doesn't like civilian casualties_. _I__f we do that, we will simply turn the populations we are liberating against us_." Jesus replied.

"_Yahweh is an old fool who is not of a military mind. There are no innocents in this war. Everyone has blood on their hands,_" Metatron argued.

This time, another figure appeared; this time, this being was a middle-aged man, his face wrinkled slightly from age. His face was pristine and elderly, yet still very strong and clever. There were light-blue stripes along his forehead, which didn't show through the prim suit he was wearing. He was quite overweight, which was a trait that Yahweh took particular pride in, and he never let anything interrupt lunch.

_"...Excuse me, Metatron. You were saying?"_ The figure asked, causing Metatron to snicker.

"President Yahweh!" Tephiroth stood at attention.

"_Ah, Tephiroth, my boy! What seems to be the problem?_" The Angel President spoke in his very gentle elderly tone.

"_Nothing, sir_." Metatron gave Jesus an angry glare.

"_Are you two fighting again? We should be fighting the Demons, not each other_." Yahweh lectured.

"_No, Father, we're not fighting. Just... having a little difference of opinion_." Jesus turned away for a moment, not allowing himself to become tempremental.

"_Anyway, how is Operation Halo coming, my boy_?"

"Very good. But we still haven't found Tsali yet." Tephiroth replied.

"_That's okay. As long as we find him quickly, we're alright_." Yahweh chuckled.

"_Ummm... Dad_?" Jesus spoke up, clearing his throat.

"_Yes, what is it, son_?" Yahweh asked.

"_There's something about that. We recently found out that Maledict isn't out to destroy the Blue Typhoon. In fact, he has secretly ordered his warships to protect the Typhoon from harm."_ Jesus reported.

_"Oh? And why is that?"_

"_We're not sure right now, exactly. But we will find out soon enough_." Jesus replied.

"_Very interesting. Maledict is switching his priorities... Oh well. The Blue Typhoon is not a threat to us for the time being. Carry on with the operation. Oh, Tephiroth, and one last thing_..."

"Yeah?"

"_Did we find the remains of Venus the Seedrian yet_?" Yahweh asked.

"... No, sir, even though we have confirmation that she is dead. As far as I could determine, she was killed and her body was apparently absorbed by Dark Tails, the same creature that is throwing the Demons in disarray." The Three-Winged Angel responded.

"_Okay, just wondering. I guess it's time for me to get back on my own plans. Yahweh out._" With that, Yahweh disappeared from the screen.

_"But wait a second! You found the the Demons are protecting the Blue Typhoon. What if Sonic and his friends become a threat?" _Metatron questioned.

"... They won't." Tephiroth bluntly replied.

Metatron let out an angry sigh. "_Fine then, I must leave for the moment. Carry out your orders_." The Avatar-of-War's face also vanished. Now, it was only Jesus and Tephiroth.

"_Okay, Tephiroth. You have your orders. Christ out_." Jesus's face finally disappeared from view; everyone had left except for Tephiroth, who left momentarily.

Immediately as he finished the meeting, a group of five unusual Angel soldiers walked into the war room from behind Tephiroth.

They were known in mythology as the Seraphim, the elite Angel commandos who protected high-ranking Angel leaders, among other duties such as elite ops and raiding. They had six small metal wings, cybernetically attached to their backsides. They were equipped with fake Doma Emeralds, along with powerful chainguns slung over their backs. Their goggles had red tints, and their riot suits had the same complexion.

"Troops!" Tephiroth spoke firmly to the Seraphim commandos.

"_Yes, sir_?" One of them said. Their voices were extremely low and radio-pitched thanks to their masks.

"Ready your weapons and come with me." Tephiroth ordered. The four Seraphim immediately stood at attention. _I sense Tails and Cosmo... I think it's time we had a short heart-to-heart discussion._

...

In the dark confines of his secret hideout, Tsali hunched up on the couch in his living room.

Not too long after he had been recruited by Maledict three decades before, Tsali had discovered an old outpost on a remote rocky asteroid, and with just a little cleaning and furnishing, he had turned it into his personal hideout.

He had long come to call it his home, along with his place of sanctuary from the rigors of being constantly hunted down by an entire galaxy. A place where he could escape the madness that was his life, if only for a few moments.

Currently, he was deep in thought about the events of several weeks ago, about the end of Planet Cascade and the death of Molly. His mind kept wandering on to the words Sonya spoke to him on that day. Despite his resistance to her, he afterward came to realize that there was something she was trying to tell him.

The Ultimate Weapon stood up; only sadness went through his cold mind. Everything that had happened to him… His entire life… All of it had been one long bloodbath.

"Everything… I still don't get it…" Tsali kept muttering sadly to himself. Soon, some tears started to form.

"I can't take this much longer… The years are starting to get to me… I need someone…" Tsali turned towards a large mirror he had hanging on the wall.

However, to his great shock, it wasn't his own reflection he saw. Instead, he saw someone else.

In the mirror was the image of a short orange one-tailed fox, wearing a short blouse and having longer hair than a normal fox. Her eyes were fraught with sadness and anger.

"_Why, Tsali… Why did everything have to be like this… What have you done_…" The young girl stuttered through her tears. "_Tsali… I loved you… but now… look at what you have become_…"

As soon as the girl finished, her image disappeared, to be quickly replace by a new image; a tall adult fox.

"_Tsali, why? What have you done? My own son_..."

"Arrrrrrggggh…" Tsali's anger and temperament reached its boiling point,** "SHUT THE FUCK UP!"**

Taking out his Dark Emerald from the table, he chucked it at the mirror. With a loud CRASH, the mirror cracked into pieces.

Calming down, Tsali slowly approached the mangled glass shards. He finally saw his own image, broken and distorted into pieces.

As he quietly looked at himself as if in a trance, a thought really did come to mind.

_Is this what I really have become?_

Tsali finally came to reality minutes later. "I must be going insane…" The Ultimate Weapon hunched back down on the couch.

"Hey, Tsali!" A voice suddenly called from behind the door. Several knocks followed.

Tsali simply sat there; he really didn't feel like letting Trinity in. Soon the knockings became louder and harder, until Tsali couldn't take it anymore.

**"_WAIT A MINUTE, YA DICK!" _**Tsali screamed at the door, getting up and opening. Trinity slowly walked in, looking at the broken mirror.

"What've you been doing in here..." Trinity asked, scanning the broken shards.

"Nothing." Tsali lied, walking away from Trinity to the door. "C'mon, let's get going."

...

Meanwhile, on a peaceful desert planet known as Planet Marmolin, our heroes had landed the Blue Typhoon after meeting a group of natives in space and finding a Chaos Emerald aboard their ship.

One of the natives, a small orange creature with beady eyes named Lou, the ship's captain, tossed the light-blue Chaos Emerald to Sonic, who caught it in his hands.

"This is our thanks for the ride, and our thanks for your help," Lou spoke.

"About time..." Knuckles muttered. Originally, when they refused to give them the Emerald, Knuckles tried to beat them up in his impatience.

"Awesome! Thanks a bunch!" Tails also said.

"By the way, Lou, what was it that you said was wrong here?" Cosmo asked.

"Here, come with me for a moment. I'll tell you guys on the way."

With that, Sonic and the gang walked towards a large city in the distance, with Lou right alongside them.

"You see, we must hurry. Not too long ago, our astronomers detected a huge meteor filled with Dark Chaos Energy on a collision course with our planet. If it hits, the whole planet will be destroyed. We detected it several weeks ago, and according to our estimates, it will hit very soon."

Sonic and his friends listened intently to the plight of the Marmolins.

"Fortunately, there is a way to stop it. Not too far from here is a mighty fortress built in a huge mountain. Legend has it that it was used by our ancestors when they first came to this world. On the highest point of the fortress is a large plasma cannon, originally used to destroy objects in orbit," Lou explained.

"So, what exactly do you need us to do?" Sonic questioned.

"We need you to enter the fortress and find the control console for the cannon, blowing up the meteor and saving our world."

"Why don't you guys just do it yourselves?" Knuckles asked. Amy hit him on the back of the head for his rudeness.

"We already sent several parties to activate the console, but none of them ever returned. The last party we sent a few weeks ago was a team of foreign mercs - a raptor, a bear, a cobra, and someone else who I've forgotten at the moment - but they also vanished and never returned. We fear that the worst has happened to them, and that someone - or something - must be trying to keep the meteor intact until it hits. That is another thing that we need you to do as well; we need you to find out what happened to the search parties." Lou replied.

"Is that all?" Chris asked.

"Yep. That is all." Lou replied.

"I don't trust you. What do we get in return?" Knuckles asked.

"Oh, don't sweat it, Knuckles! If they need our help, we'll help them. We don't need a reward," Sonic said, turning towards Knuckles.

"So, you'll help us?" Lou asked.

Sonic gave him a big thumbs up. "Of course! We'll do it!"

Tails sweatdropped for a moment. Something inside was telling him that there was more to this than initially suspected. "I got a _REALLY _bad feeling about this..."

...

Before long, by about noon, Sonic and his friends had made their way out of the Marmolin capitol city and were already close to the fortress.

As they came up upon a huge cliffside that was directly across from the fortress entrance, the gang marveled at its size.

The mountain was more of a huge jagged spike than a hill, and various parts of the fortress could actually be spotted from the outside. A deep chasm seperated the heroes from the entrance, even though it was spanned by a large futuristic suspension bridge.

"Wow, it's so big!" Chris marveled at it.

"That's what _she_ said..." Knuckles muttered, though nobody heard him or paid attention.

"C'mon guys, let's get going and find the cannon controls." Tails motioned them on.

Sonic and his friends crossed the huge bridge, and walked onto a large plateau where the fortress entrence was. However, before they were able to walk in, a loud grunt came from Tails, who suddenly collapsed on the ground.

Tails felt himself black out for a moment and his vision start to blur as a random stabbing pain started ripping through his entire body, sweat appearing in his fur. His pupils diliated from the pain and his violent shaking. Saliva started to slowly bubble in his mouth, and he felt like he was about to vomit.

"Whoa, little bro, you okay?" Sonic asked curiously. As soon as he said that, the condition faded, and Tails returned to normal.

He stood up slowly. "Yeah, I'm alright, don't worry." He fearlessly walked forward into the metal cavern that formed the entrance.

Shrugging it off, Sonic followed him in, followed in turn by everyone else.

Cosmo began to worry a bit. Tails had been having such random seizures of pain for a while, and his condition seemed to be worsening. _I'll look out for him... I won't ever let him get hurt..._

As the heroes walked into the entrance of the facility, the first thing that hit them was random gust of wind, almost like a rush of some type.

"What the hell...?" Knuckles asked. Everybody, shrugged it off and carried on. The inside of the fortress was very advanced and futuristic, with odd shapes and flashing lights. There was also working machinery nearly everywhere as well.

However, Tails still felt something nagging at him; an ominous sense of foreboding that seemed to reach all the way to the very depths of his soul.

"Guys..." Tails spoke as they approached a large door.

"What, Tails?" Amy asked.

"I don't think we should go in there..." Tails spoke with apprehension.

"Why not, little bro?" Sonic asked.

"I have a feeling that something horrible is going to be on the other side..." Tails warned.

"Oh, it'll be okay man," Sonic said, as he opened the large door via a switch right next to it. However, as he was the first to walk in, Sonic saw that Tails was right indeed.

Strewn about about the floor of the massive hall were partially-rotten corpses of dead Marmolins, their bodies mutated and cut open in hideous ways. They were quite misshapen, as if they had been exposed to radiation for a very long time.

"So this is what happened to those search parties..." Chris muttered as he looked about.

Cosmo kneeled next to one of the bodies. "Who... Who could've done this to these innocent people?"

"Tsali, perhaps?" Amy suggested.

As his friends suggested who might've done it, Tails suddenly saw instant proof of who did it; around the floor were small puddles of pure Dark Chaos Energy, most of which were laying near the carcasses of the Marmolins.

And that is when the memories of the Dark Kitsune started to replay in his mind.

"No. I know who did this, and it wasn't Tsali. Not even close." Tails muttered in determination.

"Who?" Amy asked.

"You wouldn't know this, but me and Cosmo encountered someone back when we were trapped underground and found a Chaos Emerald."

Instantly, Cosmo recongized who he was talking about.

"Explain a little bit more," Chris requested.

"Right before you found us, we encountered a dark-blue fox with two tails, but he wasn't Tsali. I was able to get a scan of him, and he is a Dark Chaos Being made of pure Dark Chaos Energy."

"Wait a sec... Do you mean that same fox who we found on the jungle planet a few months ago, Tails?" Amy asked.

Tails spoke, "Cosmo, come over here and let's go check this place out. Let's all try to stay together this time." Tails and Cosmo, walking side by side, went through a large hatch towards yet another door.

However, just as they were approaching the door, the whole fortress began to rumble slightly. "Hey, what was that sound?" Amy wondered aloud.

Instantly, the hatch that Tails and Cosmo just went right through closed itself, the locking light turning red. Unfortunately, Sonic and the others had not gone through the door yet. Which meant that the duo was once again separated from their friends.

"Tails! Cosmo!" Knuckles desperately attempted to pull the locked hatch open with his strength, failing miserably. In desparation, Amy took out her Piko Piko Hammar and began beating with all of her might on the door.

"... Not this again..." Sonic facepalmed.

"We can't just break down the door. We're gonna need to find some way to hack it... or find another way around." Chris suggested.

On the other side of the hatch, Tails was also desperately trying to get the door; "It's locked! It won't open!" Tails tried to open the hatch in vain.

"How did it close by itself? What happened?"

"I don't know, Cosmo! We've been seperated from the others... Again." Tails spoke to her, the memories of their first trek coming back to him.

"Well... Unless Sonic and the others manage to get through that hatch or find an alternate rout, looks like it's up to us to find the cannon controls, Tails." Cosmo said, putting a hand on his shoulder, making him blush a tiny bit.

"Then we have no time to waste. Let's get going." Tails and Cosmo smiled and nodded towards each other. With that, the couple opened the large door and went into the next room.

The room on the other side of the door was large and circular. It appeared to be some kind of elevator.

"It's an elevator... Let's go up." Tails said, running to a tiny control panel on the outside edge of the circle.

The moment he pressed the single up-arrow button on the console, the elevator came to life with a low hum.

"Get on." The duo jumped on the now-floating platform. As soon as they stepped on, the elevator rose upwards into a huge shaft hundreds of feet high. However, the speed of the elavator made the trip in only a minute or two.

The elevator stopp at its highest point; another room connecting to a corridor. The was a large glass window behind them, giving a stunning view of the surrounding area from nearly the top.

"I think we're almost there," Cosmo spoke.

"Shhhh! Wait..." Tails shushed her randomly.

As he did, all over the room, millions of tiny blue particles appeared from nowhere and started floating like snow.

"Uh-oh..." Tails warned.

"What is it, Tails?" Cosmo asked.

"I think something we've seen before is up ahead. Let's get to that control console quickly!" Tails said, and the two ran to the door. As it opened automatically, they were hit by a familiar face.

Just around the corner, through a glass pane, was none other than Dark Tails.

As they entered, the Dark Kitsune, not seeing them behind the window, floated towards a crate of radioactive Dark Chaos Energy, and began absorbing it into his body.

"It's that blue fox again!" Cosmo fretted, looking through the window.

"He's the one who killed all those Marmolins, and he's the one who's trying to make the meteor destroy this planet!" Tails exclaimed.

Instantly, in sheer recklessness, Tails sprinted away from Cosmo around the corner to confront the Dark Kitsune. Cosmo followed him as best she could.

"Alright, you little..." Tails started to say as he went into the room.

But, to his shock, Dark Tails was gone.

"Hey, where did he go?" Cosmo asked as she caught up.

"He must've went through there," Tails pointed towards a door right next to the crates where Dark Tails had just been.

The couple ran through the automatic door, which led into yet another elevator. However, this one was very large, much larger than the previous one.

And, just as Tails thought, just across the room was Dark Tails, with his back facing towards our heroes. He was spreading some tendrils of Dark Chaos Energy on the wall.

"Alright! What are you hiding, and who the hell are you in the first place?" Tails shouted at his dark mirror as he stopped with Cosmo.

Dark Tails, at first, did not reply. The only thing he did was that he stopped spreading Dark Chaos Energy and stood still.

But, all of a sudden, his familiar echo-laugh resounded through the elevator like a ghost. The Dark Chaos Being slowly turned towards our heroes.

Before Tails could say anything, he suddenly felt a surge of power go through him, like nothing he had ever felt before. He then noticed that his skin had randomly turned from a yellow-orange to a dark-green, and he had a dark-green aura around him.

"What the..." Tails muttered. It reminded him of the form he had accidently transformed into when they fought Tsali and Maledict back on the MXS _Tryphon_.

However, he realized just then that, thanks to his new controlled power, he could actually stand and fight his dark adversary.

"Cosmo, leave this to me. Care for a rematch?" Tails asked the Dark Fox confidently. The Dark Kitsune narrowed his eyes in reply.

Cosmo backed away to the back wall behind Tails as Dark Tails took a step forward. At that moment, with his powers, Dark Tails remotely activated the elevator controls, causing the huge elevator to start ascending upwards.

A large sphere of blue light appeared in his free hand, and with a jab forward, a shotgun spread of Dark Chaos Spears launched at Tails. However, the Dark Chaos Spears did nothing; upon impacting Tails's aura-covered body, they simply fizzled out of existence.

Tails smiled, seeng that he now had a chance of winning.

Focusing his control of Chaos Energy in his left hand, a large green sphere of Chaos Energy soon appeared. Extending his left hand forward, he launched his own collection of green-coloured Chaos Spears.

They easily hit the Dark Kitsune; despite his power, Tails's new Chaos Spears still damaged him, if only slightly.

Dark Tails rose in the air and let out yet another laugh; upon finishing, he went into a hedgehog-style Spin-dash, a massive glowing sphere of Dark Chaos Energy appearing around him.

"Uh-oh..." Tails was able to mutter. Even with his newfound strength and speed, Tails wasn't able to dodge or resist.

Dark Tails launched his body into Tails, causing the young fox to fly straight into the side of the elevator. A large crack of bent metal was dented from the fox's impact.

Tails, initially stunned but unfazed, quickly got back on his feet.

Hastily charging up a stream of Chaos Spears, Tails tried to launch as many as he could as quickly as possible. However, this time, Dark Tails was prepared for him, and dodged them by levitating out of the way. The Chaos Spears fizzled upon hitting the metal wall on the other side of the elevator.

Before Dark Tails could return fire, the elevator rose to the top floor, and finally stopped.

Tails and Cosmo were both temporarily awestruck by the view at the top; a set of large glass panes around the circular penthouse revealed that they were thousands of feet in the sky. It suddenly became very cold as the mountain-esque air rushed to them.

That's when he noticed something else; just behind Dark Tails was a large control panel, which Tails noticed was connecting to a giant laser cannon mounted on a small mini-tower behind it.

"The cannon controls! They're over there! Cosmo, get over there and activate the cannon! I'll deal with Dark Tails!" Tails shouted to Cosmo.

Cosmo nodded to the kit, and ran as quickly as she could over to the large control panel, beginning to fiddle around and finding the control scheme to fire the cannon.

Meanwhile, the battle began to heat up between the two Chaos-empowered foxes. Dark Tails rose high into the air, and a massive ball of light appeared in his hand.

With a single jab, a huge blue Chaos Superblast launched at Tails, who narrowly managed to fly out of the way before being vaporized by the blast, which blew a large chunk of metal away from the floor. He felt his famous twin tails become slightly scorched by the sheer energy.

Before Tails could recover and retaliate, however, Dark Tails instantly launched another Chaos Superblast. This one came so fast that Tails didn't even see it coming, and it sent him sprawling over the floor, mere inches from one of the glass panes.

"I can't keep picking him down with attrition... I gotta end this now!" Tails muttered as he slowly got up. He felt drained by that sudden attack; it had been so powerful that it had given him quite a beating.

Focusing all of his remaining power at hand, a huge rainbow-coloured ball appeared in both of his hands. It took flight, and turned into a bright missile of pure Chaos Energy.

Before even the Dark Kitsune could dodge it, it hit him squarely in the stomach. His whole body radiated with light as Dark Tails let out a demonic cry of pain.

_Wow... That must've hurt... _Tails thought. "Had enough?"

As quickly as he could, Tails charged up another blast similar to it. Dark Tails slowly arose, heavily damaged by that attack.

But before Dark Tails could retaliate, Tails followed up with another blast similar to it. This one sealed Dark Tails's fate.

As this one hit and fizzled away, Dark Tails started bubbling as his body violently shook, demonic cries of pain and anguish sounding through the air. They were so loud that even Cosmo paused with her fiddling and turned to see what had happened.

Dark Tails slowly started dragging himself away from Tails, holding his head as if he had a huge migraine.

As he approached one of the glass panes leading over the sky, he used a single Chaos Spear, breaking through the glass instantly.

That's when Tails realized what he was about to do. "Wait! What are you doing? Stop!"

But he was too late. Just as Tails ran as fast as he could towards Dark Tails, the Dark Kitsune collapsed, his twitching body falling out the window and plummeting through the sky.

His body dissolved into those familiar blue particles as he fell to his apparent death, finally ending the confrontation.

Tails simply paused, stunned, still looking over the abyss in which Dark Tails had thrown himself into.

_Who is he, and what was he thinking? Why did he throw himself out the window when I defeated him?_ Tails thought. However, he was interrupted by an unusual sound from close by, along with a quick feeling of extreme tiredness. He noticed that, as if on cue, he lost his Super-esque form.

"Tails!" A female voice distracted the young fox. Cosmo was calling him over.

"I got it. This is the activation control." Cosmo pointed as a large red button slowly rose from inside the panel.

The duo both put their hands on the big red button.

"Together, Cosmo?" Tails asked, looking at his best friend.

Cosmo smiled at him. "Together."

With both of their force, they pushed the button down, and ran backwards from the panel to get a glimpse of the fireworks.

The giant plasma cannon hummed to life as it slowly aimed straight upwards towards the sky. Within a second or two, a bright red beam shot into the heavens. Almost instantly, a tiny blue flash of light could be seen from way up in space. The planet had been saved.

"We did it, Tails! We saved the planet!" Cosmo gave Tails a big hug, causing him to blush.

"Yes, we did. Now, let's find Sonic and the others!" Tails spoke quickly, going to the elevator controls and activating them. The elevator hummed to life as it slowly started to descend.

During the ride down, a part of Tails's mind was still thinking about the enigmatic Dark Kitsune that he had just defeated. _I still do not understand who he is, or what he wants... But if he was trying to protect that meteor we just destroyed, then it can't be good._

"There you guys are! I thought you were gone for sure." The voice of Chris snapped Tails out of his thoughts. Chris and the others were standing outside the elavator door.

"Chris!" Cosmo ran up to the human and hugged him tightly.

"We thought that we heard something firing," Sonic began, "Did you guys...?"

Tails gave him a big smile and nodded. "The meteor has been destroyed."

"And you managed to do it without getting your ass beaten up, too." Knuckles sarcastically quipped, referring to the wounds that Tails suffered during his last trek with Cosmo. Sonic and Tails sweatdropped.

"Well, it was close." Cosmo's voice took a serious tone, "We found the dark fox up at the controls and we had to fight him."

"So he was responsible for killing all those Marmolims..." Amy replied.

"... But we beat, because nothing can stop Cosmo and me." Tails gave the plant girl a wide smile, and Cosmo returned it before everyone began laughing. Tails decided not to mention the the fact that he didn't technically beat his dark doppelganger.

...

Later that afternoon, as the others were going around the capitol and talking with the locals, Cosmo was standing on a large cliff, overlooking a stunning vista of desert mesas and buttes. The sun was getting lower and lower in the sky, and the sky was a bright pink. Behind her, the yells and roars of a great celebration fluttered through the air.

The young Seedrian's mind was starting to trail off to Venus; was she safe? Was she even alive? Cosmo owed quite alot to her mysterious Seedrian ally.

"Cosmo?" The young voice of Miles Prower echoed behind her, derailing her train of though.

"Oh, hey Tails, The Marmolins are really happy that we saved their planet. Wonder what everybody else is doing. I heard that they were partying or something." Cosmo spoke to him.

"Yeah. The Marmolims are holding a celebration in their capitol city to honor us rescuing them." Tails came up right beside her, causing her to blush slightly. "Cosmo, we did a great job back there. I'm very fortunate to have such great buddies at my side... Especially you."

"Oh, I didn't really do anything, though." Cosmo spoke, her blush becoming even brighter.

"That's not true, Cosmo. You're the one who found the cannon controls and was able to activate them. In a sense, you are the real one who saved the planet. I was fighting off that dark fox for the whole time." Tails corrected her.

"Well, uhh... Thank you, Tails!" Cosmo thanked him.

"It's okay..." Tails suddenly started sniffing the air.

"What is it?"

Tails sniffed some more. "There's someone around here. I have a feeling..." Immediately, Tails snapped backwards, turning to face a tall fox figure with three wings.

"... That we're being watched."

The duo looked over the stranger who was spying on them. He was a very tall kitsune - easily six feet tall - with three tails and three wings; two white and one robotic. He had long flowing hair, despite his very masculine appearance. His clothes had various crosses inscribed on them.

"You know, Miles, it's pretty interesting how you have such a close relationship with a Seedrian of all creatures." The figure smiled and commented.

"Who are you, and how do you know Tails?" Cosmo asked politely.

"Oh, of course, I forgot to introduce myself. I am Tephiroth, the Three-Winged Angel." The stranger introduced himself.

"What do you want?" Tails asked, in a tone a little more defensive than he intended.

"Tails - if that is what you wished to be called - I have heard that you are the Chosen One prophesied trillions of years ago by the Forerunners." Tephiroth explained.

"The _what_?" Tails asked.

"The Chosen One; the one prophesied to stop the Almighty Kitsune God." Tephiroth spoke.

"Okay, I have no idea what the hell you're talking about, or who you are for that matter. Are you saying that I'm some kind of... saviour?" Tails asked.

"Exactly. That is why I am here, Miles. I am here to see your worth."

Instantly, five bizarre creatures appeared around him. They were tall humans with six cybernetic wings, along with intimidating riot gear and gas masks with red tints to them. They also had giant chainguns attached to their backsides, which despite their huge size, the figures could carry with apparently limitless effort.

All five of them pulled out large metal cylinderical objects, and suddenly put what looked like fake red Chaos Emeralds inside them. Immediately, glowing red plasma swords drew with a distinctive _buzz _sound.

"These are my Seraphim elite guards." Tephiroth spoke blankly, "Pardon me if they seem to be hostile, but I wish to see your power."

The five Seraphim immediately twirled their blades in a flashy display and closed in on the young two-tailed kitsune. Tails quickly got into a natural defensive stance, readying himself to protect both Cosmo and himself.

All of a sudden, for the second time that day, he turned into his dark Shroud Form.

"Hey, I'm back in this form again..." Tails muttered. "Well, I'm gonna need it..."

Readying his energy faster than any of the Seraphim, Tails immediately launched a Chaos Spear at the nearest Seraphim guard. It hit the soldier squarely in the chest, throwing him backwards right into a nearby rock. Upon impact, the Seraphim literally disappeared into a white flash.

Tails attempted to launch another one at another Seraphim, but this one was prepared, and the Angel commando dodged it as if he was in the Matrix. However, this distracted the other guards, giving Tails an opportunity.

"**CHAOS BLAST**!"

With his stored energy, Tails released a huge black wave of energy that instantly sent the four remaining Seraphim flying through the air. As they sailed into the ground, all four of them vanished in similar white flashes.

The Three-Winged Angel appeared totally unfazed that Tails had easily won the challenge.

However, suddenly, a very long version of the swords the Seraphim carried appeared in his hand. This one was a light-blue instead of red, and it was extremely long, easily about ten feet in length.

Tephiroth didn't even give Tails time to rest. The Angel leader instantly slashed downward. He would have sliced Tails in half from head to toe had he not have teleported the moment Tephiroth moved. Even though Tails appeared behind him, Tephiroth sensed Tails right where he appeared, and did a spinning slash, knocking Tails away from him and giving him a huge gash over his stomach and chest.

However, though he had just been slashed, Tails's wound instantly regenerated itself.

Tephiroth readied his sword again. Covering the distance between them in nanoseconds with his sheer speed, the Three-Winged Angel jabbed forward with his sword. Tails stepped out of the way, and Tephiroth's giant blade stabbed through the spot where Tails had just been a moment ago.

Spinning around towards Tails, as if Tephiroth had foreseen where he would be, a large object appeared in his hand. Tails recognized it as looking like a futuristic double-barrelled shotgun of some kind. However, it was partially translucent.

Tephiroth fired a single shot from his firearm. With a deafening bang, the weapon spit out a hail of large shining projectiles; pieces of diamond buckshot. A single diamond shard cut into Tails's arm, although the resulting pain felt more like he had just blown it clean off.

That is when Tails went on the offensive.

Without Tephiroth's knowing, Tails readied his twin tails for his signature tail whip attack. Teleporting in front of Tephiroth, the young fox, whipped his tails across Tephiroth's open chest, causing a large cut along his muscular features.

Tephiroth recoiled backwards slowly. Despite his wound, he didn't appear to be in any pain whatsoever. He merely looked at his wound with a curious face.

Putting his hand onto the wound, a glowing white light emanated from it, and his wound was healed.

"How do ya like _that_?" Tails spat at Tephiroth.

The Three-Winged Angel looked up at him, his plasma sword deactivating at the same time. He also holstered his diamond shotgun.

"I admit, you are quite skilled. However, you are still not strong enough to be a true Prower. But, of course, that will all come to you in time." Tephiroth softly spoke, slowly walking past Tails, who also returned to normal yet again.

"What do you mean, a 'true Prower'?" Tails asked. Tephiroth stopped, and didn't even look towards the young fox.

"You'll understand later. Oh, and by the by, I have something to tell you, Cosmo..." Tephiroth replied.

Cosmo, who had stayed back near the cliff for the whole fight, walked next to Tails. "Yes, sir?"

"I know you have already met Venus the Seedrian, correct?" Tephiroth asked.

"Yeah, I have. What about her?" Cosmo asked nodding her head.

"... Venus is dead." Tephiroth explained in the most emotionless way possible.

Cosmo recoiled back in startled fright. "_**Dead**_? No... How could that happen... Venus can't be gone!"

"Wait, who?" Tails asked.

"Oh, so you don't know Venus?" Tephiroth turned slightly, one of his eyebrows raising. "Oh well. Cosmo can tell you all about her." The Three-Winged Angel began to walk away.

"Wait! How did Venus die?" Cosmo called after him in distress.

Tephiroth paused, "... Dark Tails killed her, and absorbed her soul into his own."

"Dark Tails? Who's that?" Cosmo asked.

"He's the same fox who you two encountered twice; once in an underground Metarex base, the second only a few hours before now when you two destroyed the meteor heading towards this planet."

"You mean..." Cosmo stood in stunned shock.

"Oh, so you're talking about that dark fox that I fought earlier. Do you know why he was trying to get the meteor to crash, and do you really know who he is in general?" Tails spoke, still clueless about nearly everything.

Tephiroth turned and prepared to explain as he faced our heroes. "While my knowledge may not be entirely correct, I will explain what I do know. Dark Tails is an ancient alien lifeform made of pure radioactive Dark Chaos Energy. He is a scavenger, and he must absorb Dark Chaos Energy to survive. The meteor that you two destroyed was most likely a Dark Chaos Meteor, and Dak Tails was almost certainly planning to Corrupt this world with it."

"Corrupt?"

"Infect with Dark Chaos Energy, in other words. Any being that falls under this corruption become one with Dark Chaos Venus the Seedrian was one of those who met that fate; she was possessed by Dark Tails."

"But then how did she die?" Cosmo asked.

"... Not too long ago, as far as I could find, Venus ran afoul of none other than Tsali and Trinity together. They defeated her in a fight, and when she was down, Dark Tails finished her off."

"Trinity? Tsali? _TOGETHER_?" Cosmo nearly screamed.

"How could Trinity be working with Tsali? I thought he hated Tsali and the Demons." Tails also inquired.

Tephiroth chuckled slightly. "It's all a little confusing, but it'll all make sense to you two eventually. While I would certainly like to explain more, I have other business to attend to."

"Wait...!" But Tails was too late. Tephiroth instantly vanished in a flash of light-blue energy.

Tails turned towards Cosmo; she was shivering with a mixture of both fright and extreme sadness across her features. "This can't be happening... Trinity and Tsali are now together trying to kill me... and now Venus is dead?"

"Hey Cosmo, look!" Tails turned her around, and dispelled her questions from her mind.

She turned and was promptlystunned by what she saw. Over the cliffside, as the night had slowly fallen, a gigantic moon had appeared in the starry sky, as if it were very close up.

"Over here!" Tails ran over to the edge of the cliff and sat down in front of the moon. Cosmo quickly followed him.

"Wow! It's so pretty!" Cosmo exclaimed, glancing to Tails.

"You ever look in a mirror, Cosmo? I think it'll change your mind..." Tails spoke, blushing slightly. The girl's face flushed a beet-red, and there was a highly awkward pause.

"Thank you so much for everything you have done for me."

"Oh, don't worry Cosmo. I like being with you." Tails admitted. A scarlet blush instantly covered his face as he finished, as he realized what he had just said.

The two of the looked away from each other temporarily, both of them slightly embarrassed, but no matter how hard they tried, they could shift their attention away from each other.

"Ummm, Tails?"

"Hmm?" Tails asked her.

Cosmo breathed in deeply as if she was gathering her wits, shyly glancing at Tails and blushing at the same time. "There's something... I wanted to tell you... for a really long time..."

"Oh? What is that?"

The young Seedrian stared at Tails straight in his sky-blue eyes, taking his hand in hers. "Tails... I..." Tails waited patiently for her, but she couldn't help but stutter.

"I... I don't know how to say this... but..." She closed her eyes and blurted out, "... I love you!"

Those words hit Tails harder than Dark Tails ever could in battle.

"... R-Really?" Tails asked, a crimson color spreading across his face.

"... Yes, Tails... I didn't realize it at first, but as things have gone farther and farther, I realized just how much of a caring and loving person you truly are. Starting with our trek in the Metarex base, and then with the party on the Typhoon... when you helped me with that surprise party... I dunno, really, but I..."

Tails held up his finger as if to shush her. The two of them put their arms around each other's shoulders they both came closer and closer to one another.

"Cosmo..."

"Yes, Tails?" Cosmo asked.

Tails leaned his face in, until she could feel his warm breath on her skin. She felt like her cheeks was going to start on fire from the blush that resulted.

"... I love you, too."

With that, the two young lovebirds finally came together, and they both locked lips in a long, passionate moonlit romance. They kissed each other deeply, only feeling the existence of each other in their lives.

Of course, because of that, they didn't notice that their private intimate moment was not really so private; in fact, Sonic and everybody else were stealthily spying on them and their relationship from a cluster of bushes several yards to their rear.

"Awwwwwwww!" Amy and Cream quietly awed.

"Keep your voice down!" Chris whispered frantically.

"Whoa..." Sonic whispered to himself.

"I just hope they don't... uhhh, get it on... if you guys know what I mean." Knuckles said. Amy gave him a death glare for that remark. She also glared at Sonic when he chuckled at Knuckles and his comment.

"Don't worry. I think they're a little too young to... _do it_..." Sonic assured him. All of them kept on with their spying.

...

Tephiroth reappeared on the top floor of what seemed to initially be an incredibly massive hall seemingly going on forever. The entire room had a light-blue tint, and all over the walls, countless millions of incubation pods were attached.

This room was the Angel Advisory, a massive chamber located in the underbelly of New Jerusalem where the legions of Advisors were grown and incubated. Each Advisor had a growth period of roughly ten days. After ten days, they were ready to be moved, but they could not be actually released from their pods until roughly three months. However, Advisors can live for billions of years, which nullified this long infant growth.

As he took a step forward, he suddenly heard a young male voice call out behind him "Tephiroth! What are you doing here?"

Tephiroth spun around to face two of his colleagues; they were two of the three Archangels, Raphael and Michael. Raphael was a bearded man with short hair and a gray cloak. He had no wings, for he had he gift of psychic abilities, a trait which he passed on via DNA implants to the Advisors throughout the Advisory.

The other Angel, Michael, was a little bit different. He had long flowing hair and no facial hair, a little bit like Tephiroth, except he was a human and he had blonde hair. He had long cybernetic legs, and he had several razor-sharp spikes jutting from his bright-white cloak.

"I thought you were commanding our Milky Way offensive...?" Michael asked curiously. Tephiroth smiled a little bit.

"Yeah, I know. The Advisors are doing a good job by themselves, so I can take a small break." Tephiroth replied.

"Oh, and by the by, Tephiroth, I think Judas needed to tell you something. He was looking for you." Raphael asked.

Tephiroth sighed angrily. Judas Iscariot, Metatron's right-hand man, and Tephiroth were on bad terms with each other.

"I know you don't like him, but please, just go with him for once." Michael begged.

"There you are!" A loud, strong voice sounded from behind Tephiroth.

"Too late." Raphael chuckled.

Tephiroth spun around once again to face none other than Judas. He was a shorter man with a long beard and a Middle-Eastern complexion just like Jesus. He wore an unusual contrapment on his backside that gave him the manipulation of four long metal claws, which he mainly used for looking through his cluttered notes and battle plans.

"Whaddya want?" Tephiroth asked. Judas marched towards him.

"I've been looking all over for you! Metatron wants to know where you've been! He knows you haven't been commanding the offensive like he told you to."

"Be quiet, man. My troops are holding their own, and the Advisors are doing a great job. What are you fretting about?"

Judas handed him a slip of holopaper. "There is a meeting about to start, and Metatron needs you to come immediately before returning to command. Refusal is not an option."

"What is this all about?" Tephiroth asked.

Judas got close to the Three-Winged Angel and whispered in his ear.

"We now have an enemy more powerful than anything we've faced before." Judas whispered.

"Who?" Tephiroth asked.

"... Dark Tails. Come with me. We'll explain more at the meeting."

...

(faints and dies) This took me SO GOD DAMN LONG TO MAKE!

So, please enjoy it.

Next time on Sonic X: The Blue Typhoon and the Dreadnought get sucked into a Dark Chaos wormhole and must fight off the Demon Empire once again! Will they be able to escape the trap, or will they all die? Find out next on Sonic X!


	18. Episode 70: Satan's Ultimatum

Make sure to understand what is explained in this chapter. Most of it will be heavily pertaining to Sonic and Maledict, rather than Tails as I've been doing lately.

There will also be a new character introduced near the end, along with just a taste of my true religious creativity.

Note that the ending of this chapter contains massive foreshadowing concerning the rest of both this story and the series I am planning after it.

...

**Episode 70: Satan's Ultimatum**

Sonic the Hedgehog quietly walked into his room. He never usually went in there, and neither did anyone else, so it hadn't seen much occupancy.

His room was simple in its composition; a standard bed with a desk and a group of drawers near it. Sonic went to the top drawer and opened it. There was nothing in it, save for one thing.

Laying in the drawer was a small silvery-platinum medallion, it's shine partially obscured by dust. A chain was attached to it for wearing, though Sonic never wore it.

Sonic had kept it for his whole life, and he had never told anyone about it. From what he was able to find out over the years, as a baby, he was found with that medallion around his neck in a small forest on Mobius.

Inscribed on the medallion was several lines of an unknown alien writing; Sonic, or anyone else he had asked for that matter, did not know what it meant or what kind of language it was. As such, it's message had always been a mystery to him.

Even when his best buddy Tails had made an intergalactic translater not too long ago, it could not read the writing either.

Because of that, the medallion was Sonic's most prized and most secret possession, one that the hedgehog was determined to understand one day.

The hedghog admired his artifact, blowing the dust off of it. He took a look at the alien writing; though he had no idea what it said, he often found himself staring at it whenever he was hurt or confused.

...

On board the bridge of the Blue Typhoon, all was peaceful for the time being. After rescuing the planet of Marmolim from a Dark Chaos Meteor and fighting off Dark Tails for the trillionth time, everybody was relieved to have a break.

"Hey Tails!" Chris asked.

"Yeah?"

"Don't you think it's kinda weird that we haven't detected any of the Chaos Emeralds yet?"

"Definitely. Not to mention that we haven't heard of Tsali or the Demons since forever." Tails replied.

Sonic simply rubbed his quills, "Yeah, but that big black hedgehog dude Maledict will probably try to kill us again sooner or later."

"Yeah, probably..." Amy spoke.

"I'm still really sad that Venus died... She saved my life many times..." Cosmo remembered.

"Hey, Cosmo, don't worry so much about it." Chris told her.

"I know, but... it wasn't the fact she died that frightens me so much... It's just that the evil dark fox we've been randomly encountering lately was the one who killed her..."

All of a sudden, a loud beeping could be heard on the Typhoon's radar.

"Hmm? A Chaos Emerald?" Tails glanced at the radar, "It's coming towards us really quickly..."

No sooner had Tails said that that a squadron of Demon fighter craft flew right past the Blue Typhoon. The young fox could tell that the signal was coming from the squadron leader.

"The Chaos Emerald!" Cream exclaimed.

"It must be aboard one of those Demon ships!" Tails spoke, pushing the Typhoon speed to maximum. The giant frigate shot forward in pursuit of the fighter squadron.

However, they didn't get far before all of a sudden, the fighters stopped in their tracks.

Suddenly, what could be recognized as a large Warpspace portal opened up in front of the squadron, which proceeded to flee inside.

"They went into Warpspace! Let's follow them!"

Tails steered the Blue Typhoon towards the Warpspace wormhole, and was able to just barely squeeze the ship into Warpspace.

...

To everyone's surprise, as they went through the portal, they didn't actually arrive in Warpspace.

Instead, they arrived somewhere totally different than Warpspace. In front of them and all around them was a huge swirling rainbow maelstrom of Chaos Energy.

"Hey, Tails, where are we? And where did those Demons ships go?" Cosmo asked.

"Dunno... But I can't get a reading on the Chaos Emerald or those Demons fighters; there's way too much interference in this energy flux." Tails replied.

"Hey, hold on... Something's coming out of Warpspace... Right next to us!" Amy exclaimed.

As everyone looked at a flash of light that appeared to the far right of the Typhoon, the familiar elegant shape of Eric's battleship, the Dreadnought, appeared next to them.

At that moment, Eric's face came up on their transmission screen. "Hey guys, what's up?"

"Nothin' much. We were just tracking a Chaos Emerald, and all of a sudden, we wind up here." Sonic replied with a big smile.

"Heh, well, how ironic. We were also tracking a Chaos Emerald signal, and we wound up here all of a sudden too." Eric said.

"Speaking of the Chaos Emeralds, have you guys re-found any of them yet?" Chris asked.

Eric nodded, "Yep. We found two of them, in fact. We had to risk our lives by getting them, though, so you guys better appreciate the fact that we're on your side."

Sonic laughed, "Don't worry! That's a really good thing that you found them!"

All of a sudden, Eric was pushed aside by the familiar purple figure of Sonya, who took his place.

"Hey, have you guys noticed something weird?" Sonya asked.

"What?" Tails asked.

"On our way here, for some reason, we were detecting a huge plethora of Demon ships moving towards one designated spot. Judging by how close they were to us, they had to have known we were there. But... for some reason, they didn't attack us, even though they totally outnumbered us. In fact, they completely ignored us altogether." The female hedgehog explained.

"Why were the Demons not trying to kill you? I thought Maledict was trying to kill us for all this time." Knuckles commented.

"Beats me, but there has to be some reason for this change in our adversary's behavior." Tails replied.

Sonya suddenly looked intently on something right below the camera. "Whoa whoa whoa whoa, wait a sec... What the hell is coming out of Warpspace?!"

As if on cue, all over Tails's radar screen, seemingly countless dots suddenly started to appear in front of the Typhoon and the Dreadnought.

They didn't just appear on radar, either. Coming in through the energy of the maelstrom, countless Demon battleships rose from the light all around our heroes.

Finally, a ways in front of them, numerous huge ships appeared.

The most dominating one of all was the gigantic black one that seemed larger than a country serving as the mothership in the middle. Another huge ship, this one more of a spearhead-like shape but equally as huge, was to its left. A final capital ship, looking more like a Metarex battleship, was to its right.

"It's an ambush! The Demons led us right into a trap!" Tails cursed at himself for being so stupid.

All of a sudden, a soft but sinisterly familiar chuckle could be heard over the transmission feed.

And, of course, replacing Sonya's camera image was none other than the demonically evil form of Lord Maledict himself. In one of his six-fingered hands was the very Chaos Emerald which our heroes had been chasing after.

"You again!" Sonic stood up and pointed at the Devil.

Satan simply let out another chuckle; for reasons unknown to Sonic and the gang, his voice didn't appear to be be evil or angry at all. Rather, it seemed to be almost kindly.

_"Hey, whaddup? It's been quite awhile since last time, has it not?"_ The Devil asked.

"What do you want now, Satan? Why have you brought us here? And why are your forces totally ignoring us? I thought you were trying to kill us!" Amy asked.

_"Oh no, Miss Rose, my forces are definitely NOT ignoring you. But, rather, they are actually protecting you on my orders." _Maledict spoke with a seductively serene smile.

"_Protecting_ us?" Knuckles asked, "But why?"

Maledict cleared his throat with an odd sound. _"I brought you into this Chaos Energy flux so that we could speak without being spied on. Tsali nor the Metarex can find us in here."_

"What do you mean?" Chris asked.

_"I need to tell you something. Something that cannot be known by Tsali or the Metarex. If they find out, this cosmic war between them will never end. To end this conflict, they cannot know."_

"Know what, exactly?" Eric's voice suddenly echoed through the transmitter.

_"... Know that I wanted both of them to lose in the end."_ The Devil stated without any apparent emotion.

"**AHA!** I knew you were behind all this!! I knew you were just using them as pawns!!" Knuckles jumped up, brandishing his fists.

Sonic softly patted him on the shoulder, gesturing him to sit down. Knuckles reluctantly did so with a grumble.

"But that doesn't make sense, Satan. If you wanted both your own servant and your mortal enemies to _lose _the Metarex Wars... Who exactly did you want to _win _in the end?"

_"Simple." _Maledict stated, taking a short glance behind him as if seeing whether there was no-one around.

_"I wanted **you** to win, Sonic the Hedgehog."_

The only thing that followed Satan's revelation was dead silence on our heroes' part.

"What?" Sonic eventually broke the silence.

_"... Sonic, Sonic, Sonic... You still don't get it, do you? You still don't know who you are. You do not realize your importance to me, in particular. Despite what I said in our last battle, I was never going to kill your or any of your friends. I simply had to put on a show for Tsali; I wasn't about to let him find out." _Maledict eyed Sonic intently.

"So, wait a sec... you were never against us in the first place?" Chris asked.

_"Exactly, little human slimeball. Despite my reservations about all of you being Sonic's companions - especially you, being a primative human - I got over my initial distrust, which I why I decided to protect all of you too. Originally, I was going to protect Sonic only and kill all of you, but now, I see that it would be good for you all to be with him."_

"What is it about me that's so special? What exactly do you want from me, Maledict?" Sonic asked.

_"... To know the truth. Sonic, don't you see? There is more to us than just the fact that we are both hedgehogs. Ever wonder why you have supersonic speed?"_

All of a sudden, static crawled over the screen, blotting out Maledict's words and replacing his image with Sonya's.

_"Don't listen to him! He's the Devil! He's trying to poison your minds!"_

The image promptly switched backed to Satan, who cleared his throat in annoyance.

"Yes, in fact, I do sometimes wonder where I got it from." Sonic replied, bravely locking eyes with the Devil.

_"In addition, I have one other major question; did you know what happened to your parents?" _Maledict asked.

This question came hard, particularly with Sonic; it hit him that he didn't quite remember everything his parents. "... No. I don't know what happened to them." Sonic replied.

Tails looked at him quizzically. "Your parents?"

Sonya once again interrupted. _"Eric, keep jamming that transmission!" _The purple hedgehog yelled off-screen.

She then glanced at Tails. _"Tails! We gotta find away out of here now! If we don't go, Satan will kill us all!"_

"Wait, Sonya! Didn't you hear Maledict? He just said that he was never trying to kill us in the first place." Knuckles assured her.

The preppy female hedgehog sighed in exasperation, _"Knuckles, we all know how gullible and naive you are."_

"I'm sorry, Sonya, but I agree with Knuckles on this one," Chris stated.

"Me too. I think that the black hedgehog is actually telling the truth this time around." Cream said.

Maledict's face appeared again for the third time, this time with surprised features. _"Why would I lie about something like this? This is extremely vital and secret information. If this got out to Tsali or Dark Oak, my attempts to end this pointless bloodbath and restore peace to the Milky Way Galaxy will be for naught. Do you seriously think that this is some kind of joke? I'm mortified, I really am. For all these years, I've have wanted nothing more than to end this conflict and restore peace to the galaxy. These people are MY people too, ya know!"_

Sonic breathed in for a moment. "Okay, Maledict. If you really were always on our side... then I'll believe you."

"_I STILL don't trust you_..." Sonya's voice echoed in the background, though the image didn't switch off of Maledict this time. Instead, her picture simply appeared right beside his.

Maledict smiled a bit at Sonya. _"I am still not sure what I should do to you and Eric... So, until I make a final decision, I will let you all go with Sonic too."_

Sonic and his friends quickly exchanged glances with all of the others.

"Thank you, but however, you still haven't answered everything that I wanted answered," Sonic reminded.

_"Like what?"_

"Like, who were my real parents and such." Sonic spoke.

_"Ah yes, thank you for reminding me. As I was explaining..." _Suddenly, the crew of the Typhoon could actually hear loud beeping coming from in front of Maledict.

In barely a few seconds, everybody could see what it was; out of nowhere, seemingly countless more signals appeared right behind our heroes.

_"Oh shit! Looks like our little private meeting ain't so private anymore. A huge Metarex fleet just warped in right behind you."_ Satan spoke up.

"Wonder who tipped them off...?" Knuckles wondered out loud.

_"There's no time! Sonic, Eric... your two have to get out of here. Accelerate as hard as you can right through my fleet. My battleships will cover your escape. Once you're clear of my ship, jump into Warpspace immediately. I will keep the Chaos Emerald so it won't fall into the wrong hands." _Maledict told them his plan.

"Okay! Thrusters at maximum!" Tails shouted, pushing the throttle up. The frigate started to thrust forward right towards the Demon battlefleet, which was steering in the opposite direction to get between them and the Metarex. The Dreadnought followed directly alongside them.

Our heroes could barely get a glimpse of the first few shots as the front battleships began to fire their weapons at the Metarex, who were returning fire.

As they passed within kilometers of Maledict's flagship, even Tails was temporarily struck with awe; it was the largest and most intimidating ship he had ever seen in his life, easily making the Typhoon look like an ant in comparison. However, he shrugged it off as he raced past their rapidly accelerating fleet.

Soon enough, both ships were far behind the Demons, and our heroes promptly jumped into Warpspace.

...

The Blue Typhoon and the Dreadnought appeared back in normal space, right next to each other.

"Whew... that was a close one..." Tails muttered.

"Sure was. It would have been even closer had we not just befriended the Devil himself." Sonic said, with a slight chuckle.

"I still don't get that guy; first, he sends Tsali to kill us, and then he wants our help to get rid of Tsali? Whose side is he really on, anyway?" Amy asked.

Eric's face suddenly appeared on their transmission screen. _"For all of his notoriety, Maledict is one bizarre dude, I'll give him that."_

"Well, if Satan will keep up to his promise, then I guess it's a good thing." Cream stated.

"Ahem, sorry, but the words 'Satan' and 'promise' don't really bode well together." Chris said.

"True, but if he wasn't really on our side, he would have killed us right there and then when he had the chance, wouldn't he have? He specifically stated that he was trying to keep us alive." Tails spoke.

"Too bad Maledict got the Chaos Emerald in the end, though." Amy said.

"Yeah, but don't worry. He only said that he was going to keep it to prevent it from falling into the wrong hands... Like, say, Dark Tails or the Metarex or Tsali, for example." Sonic came into the conversation.

_"I'm still nervous as to what he is really after, though,"_ Sonya's voice sounded from off-screen, _"Something still doesn't make sense here..."_

"Yeah, a lot of things still don't make sense..." Tails replied, with a slight chuckle.

...

President Yahweh Desjiliac Christos walked into one of the most secret and hidden rooms in the entire Universe; a room in none other than the most remote spot in the entire capitol of New Jerusalem.

Extremely few people knew about this otherwise ordinary chamber; only Yahweh, along with the highest Angel leaders such as his son Jesus, knew of its existence at all.

The room, a small circular antechamber, held only one thing; inside a large liquid-filled pod in the center of the room was a white Altus Emerald of Control, one of the seven sacred Altus Emeralds that provided energy to the entire megapolis of New Jerusalem.

It was difficult to say why it was so secret. The Angel capitol was built on top of a gigantic floating platform known by its codename, New Wisconsin, floating several million miles above the liquid core of Planet Heaven, deep within the layers of clouds and ferocious hailstorms and super-hurricanes the formed Heaven's inner mantle.

Protruding from the bottom of this platform was a long spire-shaft, ending in a bulb-shaped unipod, ostensibly for floatation, but in reality to conceal the Altus Emerald in a place where no-one would ever find it.

Along with concealing the real being the controlled the Federation since it was formed 300 trillion years before the Metarex Wars.

Yahweh strode fearlessly into the room, despite its coldness and emptiness.

**"ALLYSION!"**

The Angel President's voice rang through the empty confines of the antechamber, echoing off the walls into the eerie silence.

All of a sudden, however, the Altus Emerald in the capsule began to slowly glow, brighter and brighter, until it filled the whole room with a flash, blinding Yahweh temporarily.

As the light slowly vanished from the room, the Emerald in the pod disappeared.

With a quick flash, it teleportred itself outside of its prison, and slowly, the hard mineral began to shift and shape into the form of a being.

Quickly, the white energy formed into an unusual shape, and then, all of the light finally dissipated, revealing Allysion herself.

Allysion's body was partially transparent as if she was a ghost, which she technically was; only her soul could speak to Yahweh, bound to the Altus Emerald, for her body had been lost long ago. She took the appearance of a tall, beautiful purple-pink hedgehog, despite her age, with many long and flowing spines on her head draping about. Her emerald-green eyes were so plain, and yet, they were also filled with the sadness and tired despair of almost 500 trillion years. Her body was covered by what appeared to be a long, flowing white robe, ornamented with all manner of jewels. Her delicate, pale hands poke from the arms of her cloak.

Yahweh snapped to attention in front of his leader and the leader of the Federation.

**_"Hello, Yahweh, my old friend." _**

Allysion's soft, sad echoing voice flowed through the room like a soothing warm river.

"My queen, we have finally found him. After 15 years of searching, we have finally found Sonic the Hedgehog. It appears that he has survived, and I suspect it is only a matter of time before Maledict tells the young teenager the truth about himself... and then will make the offer that may doom our war effort."

**_"Maledict has hidden him well from my grasp for all these years, I will give him that. But it won't matter in the end."_**

Allysion's dainty eyes fell downward for a moment. Then, all of a sudden, her archetype began to walk, soundlessly, over the metal floor towards Yahweh.

_**"... For 300 trillion years, I have led the Angels and their struggle against the Devil. I have watched the entirety of the Eternal War between us and the Demons... seen countless centillions of innocent people die, seen so many planets be annihilated, seen so many galaxies ravaged beyond all hope. It must end. The Universe must be free from Maledict's insanity."**_

"I know, my queen."

**_"Normally, this would be the ideal moment to_ _begin starting our preparations for Operation Apocalypse."_**

"Oh? You mean our assault upon the Sol System and the taking of the planets in that crucial sector... including Planet Earth?" Yahweh asked.

**_"Yes. However, recent events have shown that it would be foolhardy to start such a thing now."_**

The ghost of Allysion turned slowly towards the Angel President.

**_"It seems that there is something interesting going on in the closing phase of the Metarex uprising that the Demon Empire is so desperately trying to put down. According to Metatron and Judas Iscariot, there appears to be a mysterious Dark Chaos Being that is wreaking havoc on the Demon forces."_**

"A Dark Chaos Being? Haven't those creatures been extinct for trillenia?"

**_"No, actually. In normal circumstances, I would take little heed, but now, this two-tailed... creature is starting to attack our own forces as well, easily ripping apart entire battlefleets, or so I've heard. I guess that just goes to show why Maledict is being so desperate."_**

"Well, Allysion, I think that 'desperate' is an understatement."

_**"And why is that?"**_

"Only a day or two ago, the Cherubim spies currently in the Milky Way came across disturbing reports saying that the Demons are reactivating the Galaxy Crusher in a final attempt to wipe both the Metarex and the Milky Way Galaxy itself right off the map."

**_"You know, I'm not surprised. Judging by how large of a rebellion this has become, I was expecting that Maledict would eventually turn to such weapons of galactic destruction."_**

"... You sound like you don't care at all, Allysion." Yahweh told her a little sheepishly.

_**"Trust me, I care, and I definately take this seriously. I also take the threat of Sonic seriously, which is why I have already ordered Jesus, Nazo, and Tephiroth to take care of it."**_

The ghost of Allysion turned around for a moment.

_**"Since you last contacted me a while ago, I have been watching the events of this war, and simultaneously studied the Legend of Disaster that the Forerunners prophesied. **__**Recently I have been trying to understand the prophecy, and disturbingly, everything that the prophecy says seem to be coming true during this time."**_

"Like what?"

Allysion sighed for a moment, and then snapped her fingers, causing a large pull-down screen next to her to switch on by itself.

_**"Several months ago, I constructed a powerful super-quad core AI that I installed into the main data systems of New Jerusalem. I named her MARY, and I initially gave her her first orders; the interpretation of the Legend of Disaster. To do this, I created her from Forerunner technology, which makes interpreting a Forerunner prophecy much easier."**_

"Wait a second... Are you talking about those Forerunner artifacts that have been kept in this city for trillennias?"

**_"Yes, my friend. Those Forerunner artifacts are some of the only Forerunner remains ever found by either us or the Demons. Using them to power a super-quad core AI would work perfectly."_**

Suddenly, the giant screen on the rear wall came to life, and an image of several floating and rotating orbs orbiting a large spherical body showed. Spheres of data formed the outer coating of the main body.

**"Greetings, Allysion."** A soft female voice sounded from the AI.

_**"Hello. Would you please access your translation of the Legend of Disaster for us? I want Yahweh to read it and see for himself what the Forerunners were trying to say to us."**_

**"Affirmative."**

Instantly, line after line of bizarre alien writing began typing itself on the screen as if a ghost was typing the words. Then, the words began to suddenly change, first into Latin and then into Universal Basic.

**_"Now, my friend, read this excerpt from the Prophecy, and come to realize what the Forerunners were trying to tell us."_**

The translated stanzas read;

...

_At that moment, I saw the Opening from the Dimension of Eternal Darkness appeareth in the cosmos. It was the size of several galaxies, and it had the texture of a sea of glass mingled with fire. The Darkness encompassed all things that it enveloped; nothing could escape it._

_Suddenly, I heard countless voices from my fellow Forerunners proclaimeth; _

_"Now is the day that our prayers will be answered, our imprisonment avenged! Glory be to Lucifer forever and ever!!"_

_The heavens themselves began to shake and tear from the chorus, and a third of the stars were knocked out of alignment._

_Slowly but surely, another sign came to me; from the rippled Opening of the Portal, an incredibly huge creature began to emerge from the Portal, which seemed to disappear behind it._

_The creature took the appearance of a huge gray dragon, with seven heads and seven horns, each with seven beautiful diadems studded with the Emeralds of Power. The dragon, however, had the appearance of a fox, and its heads were foxlike in appearence. It had nine tails, each the length of an entire galaxy, and with its furry tails, it was able to sweep a third of time and space away instantly in the area around it. Dark Chaos Energy came out of its mouth like steam, absorbing even more dark power in its body._

_Another invisible Forerunner voice cried out, "Who is worthy to open the book containing the wrath of our god?"_

_The supernatural chorus once again replied, "None but Lucifer, our great lord and master!!"_

_Now, a huge blank book suddenly appeared in one of the giant claws that the kitsune-dragon possessed. It had been sealed with seven seals, completely impenetrable to opening._

_With no effort, the dragon quickly snapped one of the seals open. _

_The voice again cried out "Come forward!"_

_Out of the sealed page, a huge tentacled water creature made of pure Chaos Energy with glowing red eyes and a massive brain visible in its levitating body. From this creature, a horde of malevolent parasites began to multiply across the expense of the Universe, teaching Sin to all creatures._

_The dragon once again took the book, and opened the next two seals at the same time. Two more creatures appeared and took the sides of the first creature; both took the appearance of dark-colored foxes._

_The triune of beasts began to utter proud blasphemies against Altus and His Creation, and the dragon gaveth them the authority, for five hundred trillenia, to torment the Universe with the power of Sin._

_While the three beasts were departing from his presence, the dragon now took the book and opened the fourth seal._

_The Portal of Eternal Darkness suddenly appeared again, and from it, a multitude of Forerunners that no mortal could ever count came forth._

_The Forerunners who had come from the Portal proclaimed,_

_**"How long will it be, holy and true master, before you sit in judgement and avenge our blood on the inhabitants of this pathetic Universe?"**_

_And the dragon responded, in a voice sounding like a centillion trumpets,_

_**"Very soon."** _

_The dragon clothed each Forerunner with a gray cloak, a__nd the dragon then lifted one of its claws outward to the North, directing the gaze of the Forerunners._

_Wisdom is needed for this coming section. _

_To the North, another sign in the heavens appeared to me; a ferocious duel between two large animals, taking up opposite positions in the Universe._

_One of the animals was a huge black-and-red cobra with three heads, residing in the west half of the Universe. It was swiping at the other animal with its razor-sharp fangs and spitting pure Chaos Energy in its direction. The center head had an armoured helmet of pure gold, protecting the cobra from the other animal._

_The other animal took the form of a white-and-blue panther with four eyes, residing in the eastern half. The panther, with huge spines along its backside, was jumping and lunging at the cobra, who successfully resisted all of the panther's advances._

_In addition, the three beasts that had spawned from the dragon also joined in the fray, battling it out for supremacy with both the panther and the cobra._

_Soon, several new creatures emerged._

_A small cobalt-blue cobra and a small pink cobra suddenly appeared from the void and joined the three-headed red-black cobra, aiding its fight for conquest against the panther. A green cobra and purple cobra also soon joined them in turn._

_Behind the panther, three leopards emerged. They each had seven horns on their heads, and they had different mottled skin and patterns on their fur._

_Abruptly, I heard a voice tell me, "Come hither and see the cumulation of all history."_

_I followed the voice, all the way to where the dragon was located._

_The very moment that I arrived at the spot where I was asked to come, the dragon took the book and, with a single snap, opened the fifth seal._

_As the two sides of animals battled each other, the cobras were suddenly distracted by what appeared to a chameleon with five heads and a robotic body that had spawned from the opening of the fifth seal. The group of cobras began to wage war upon the chameleon, while the panther began to sneak behind the cobra's back while it was not looking._

_The kitsune dragon now opened the sixth seal._

_The five-headed chameleon suddenly exploded as one of the three beasts, the one that looked like a dark-blue kitsune with two tails, from the dragon's book revealed himself to the nations and stretched out his gloved hand. _

_However, suddenly, the beast was stunned and mortally wounded by a brilliant shining light, that appeared for just a moment, and then dimmed. However, the light still remained, potent as ever. _

_The beast that had been slain slowly disappeared and rotted away as the other two beasts looked on._

_And it was now that Lucifer opened the final seal._

_As if in a trance, every Forerunner gathered around the dragon turned to face the Universe, and chanted in a voice that shook the cosmos._

**_"We give thanks to thou, Lord Lucifer almighty, who are and who were. __For thou hast assumed thy divinity and have established thy reign. The nations raged, but thine wrath has come, and the time for the Universe to fall, and to recompense thy servants, the Forerunners, hast now arrived._**

_Instantly, __the Forerunners appeared in a mighty flash before the whole Universe, stunning the beasts that had been quarreling over it._

_Though they desperately attempted to fight back, even attempting to unite with each other to stop the Forerunners, they were easily defeated, and soon, they only had a single stronghold left._

_At that moment, the kitsune dragon triumphantly entered the Universe in thunder and cloud. _

_And the kitsune dragon spoke,_

_**"It is done."**_

_Instantly, a third of all stars in the Universe were obliterated, causing a third of all planets to be destroyed, from the sheer power of his voice._

_His image came before the Universe, and there were flashes of lightning, rumblings, earthquakes, and a massive hailstorm that swept away a third of all things._

_The stars did not give their light, the planets became like scakcloth, and the galaxies turned as of blood before the awesome power of the Kitsune God. The Universe itself was torn open like paper, rolled up and crushed into pieces before the coming of the god of evil._

_The chorus once again spoke,_

**_"Great and marvellous are thy works, O Lord Lucifer, the Almighty; righteous and true are thy ways, thou King of the ages. Who shall not fear, O Lord, and glorify thy name? For thou only art holy; for all the nations shall come and worship before thee; for thy righteous acts have been made manifest."_**

_For the day of Lucifer's wrath has come, and who can possibly withstand it?_

_..._

(dramatic music) (nuke'd)

Anyway, stay tuned for the next episode!

Note: Remember the end of this chapter; it will become very important later


	19. Episode 71: The Meaning of Truth

This is the second chapter that is mainly starring Eric and his friends. Also featuring Satan, Tsali, and Trinity.

(I know what you're all thinking; you must hate the Chaotix or something. But no; on the contrary, I really like the Chaotix. It's just that I'm setting up some character development that will be important by the end.)

...

**Episode 71: The Meaning of Truth**

Several weeks after his fateful meeting with Sonic and friends, Lord Maledict was once again on his native planet, Planet Hell.

The foul dust-filled air would choke any normal being, but Maledict and all other Demons were immune. There was no sunlight at all; the planet's atmosphere was permanently darkened with dust and ash. The sound of roaring volcanoes could be heard everywhere, along with the soft sizzling of the seemingly omnipresent magma.

The Demon Emperor was floating cross legged a few inches off the ground. He was on a large metal platform jutting slightly over the cliff, the site of a long-gone shrine.

He was symbolically meditating in the center of a bright-red pentacle with candles on its five points. It was based off of an ancient Demon tribal custom of prayer to their heathen gods before Satan encountered them and became their leader; the red pentacle was an ancient symbol of might and prestige.

A large goat skull was also carved in the metal below him. Before Maledict arrived, the ancient Demons worshipped the _Anarozhos_, a goat-like species once native to Hell before becoming extinct after the meteorite impact that left Hell in its current state. However, their genetic legacy was not completely lost; a sub-genus of them actually found their way to Earth through natural selection and eventually evolved into goats, which are extremely close descendants of the _Anarozhos_.

Two ancient statues of the goat god Asmodeus, who the Demons originally worshipped, flanked the Devil; they were shaped like humanoids with the head of goats, which were considered the appearance of Asmodeus. Of course, Asmodeus was forgotten when the Maledict was declared as the god of gods soon after his coming.

The particular spot where Satan was mediating was on a huge volcanic cliffside overlooking a seemingly endless sea of bubbling lava, so bright that it illuminated all around it.

Known as Lake Gehenna, and commonly described as the lake of "eternal torment" by the Angels and their supporters, the lake was originally a large and pristine ocean before the meteorite impact, when its expansive sea became either barren or filled with magma and fire. In fact, the meteorite itself actually impacted near the center of the lake, explaining its insanely large size. It was a traditional site of prayer from ancient times, and it was also the sight of many Demon military exercises. A large bay of lava that was included in the lake was also used to incinerate the tons of garbage and old scrap from the megacity of Caronius underneath Hell's surface, which gave it practical as well as religious and military uses.

Before going to his mental studies, Maledict ran a quick mental note about his small skirmish a week previously that had interrupted his heart-to-heart conversation with Sonic...

...

_Satan watched as the Blue Typhoon and the Dreadnought slipped into Warpspace behind his fleet. Now that they were safe, it was time for some glory._

_"All Demon ships, this is Lord Maledict. Pull back behind the DSS_ Leviathan _immediately, and you will see my true power." He said, for that was exactly what he was planning._

_Without hesitation, every Demon battleship that had moved up to engage the massive Metarex fleet turned around and steamed past the Leviathan._

_When they were sufficiently out of range, Maledict turned towards the Metarex mob on a collision course with the Demons._

_Through his powers, Maledict tapped himself into the transmission channels of all the enemy ships, and began his epic speech._

_"Enemies of the Empire, to all you Metarex rebels, this is Lord Maledict, ruler of the Universe and your rightful lord and master. Your kind have terrorized the Milky Way Galaxy for three decades, and have begun a rebellion against the Demon race. You have pursued genocide against my people, destroying whole planets in your crazed goal for total control."_

_Maledict stood up from his seat, and walked slowly towards the massive windowpane of the _Leviathan_'s bridge._

_"Thus, I will strike down upon thee with great vengeance and furious anger, for your attempts to destroy and terrorize my subjects!"_

_Maledict extended his hand forward, preparing to use one of his powers. His shriveled hand began to glow red slightly._

**_"And now you will know, that I, Maledict, am the LORD!!_"**

_As if on cue, in the vacuum of space between the two fleets, a huge satanic pentacle made from pure Chaos Energy glowed brightly in the void. The Chaos Energy forming the maelstrom all around them began to feed itself into the pentacle, making it larger and even brighter._

_When Satan deemed it to be enough, he finally snapped his fingers in a quiet motion._

_**"Chaos Whirlwind!"**_

_Instantly, from the pentacle, a fiery hurricane the size of a small planet erupted and swirled towards the Metarex fleet. The hellfire totally consumed the Metarex, eradicating them instantly and sending their metal souls to hell in one smooth motion. The flash from the flames was so bright that it temporarily blinded all the Demons watching it._

_When the fire dissipated, only ash and molton metal remained. Satan had once again showed his divine power._

_Maledict, however, sighed; simply another day in his eternal life._

_On his orders, the whole fleet jumped in Warpspace, ending the quick skirmish._

_..._

As Satan reverted from the flashback, he slowly focused his inner energy and inner thoughts. Despite the heat of Hell's dust-filled air, Maledict felt his whole body slowly cool down into a semi-comatose meditating state.

He squeezed his eyes shut for a few seconds, and then snapped them open.

Instead of finding himself on the volcanic cliffside, he found himself in an endless void of light, warm and loving in its radiance. Huge rings of energy seemed to radiate and pulsate everywhere across a seemingly endless expanse of energy.

The Devil stood up from his mediating procedure; he knew where he was.

Maledict had the power, being one of Altus's direct creations, to speak with Him and consult with his form through a deep form of mediation. He was in the passageway to Altus's Domain, the supernatural realm where the dead enjoyed the afterlife under the Father's direct care.

Taking a few steps forward over the void, which made it appear as if he was stepping on nothing, he was stopped in his tracks by the sudden sight of an abnormally bright flash a few meters in front of him.

As if on instinct, Maledict, the ruler of the Demons, prostrated himself and turned his face away from the light.

**"Satan?" **

"_Abba_, Father! Here I am!" The Devil called out in reply. He slowly stood upwards, facing the divine Presence of Altus.

Soon, after a short pause, the flash soon started to pulse as a floating sphere of green liquid formed and began to take the shape of a humanoid.

Maledict took a few steps back as Altus revealed His awesome divine appearance, which wasn't his real body, but merely an apparition he used to speak with mortals (Altus was transcendent; he had no actual body).

The Father took the appearance of a Chaos Being; His humanoid body was made of what appeared to be green water, which Maledict knew was actually pure Chaos Energy. He was a tall figure, looking very similar to His direct Son, Chaos 0, except being green instead of blue. He had two beautiful diamonds which formed His eyes, instead of the green emeralds that Chaos 0 saw through. A huge, pulsating brain was visible in His translucent head, and there was a semi-skeletal structure that could also be seen in the whole body. The light emanating from His very body reflected brilliantly against His liquid skin, causing the ripples in His liquid skin to shine like a quasar.

**"Hello, my child. It has been interesting to watch your elaborate plan unfold."**

Maledict looked up towards the Father in surprise. "So... You _have_ been..."

**"Of course."**

The Devil recoiled back slightly, and then began his question. "Altus... What I have come to ask You is... is Miles Prower the Messiah? The one foreseen by Your people to finally vanquish Your enemy Lucifer the Kitsune God and be glorified at Your right hand?"

The divine Voice of Altus suddenly laughed a kindhearted, almost fatherly laugh.

**"Ah, Satan, my child... despite your blessing of immortality and your trademark trait of great wisdom, your mind obviously has not matured one bit."**

Maledict's face suddenly turned from one of awe into one of indignation. "What the fuck is that supposed to mean?!"

**"What I mean is yes; just as you have suspected, Miles Prower is indeed the Chosen One, the Messiah who will save all things."**

"Well, You could have just said that in the first place..." The Devil muttered under his breath.

**"But, Maledict, you obviously do not understand the meaning of his status, along with the meaning of his supposed destruction of Lucifer."**

"Then explain that to me, Altus. If what I think is not true, then tell me what is the truth."

**"... I love all things, Maledict. Surely, you know what My divine love is, right? Even what is considered vile and evil by your standards, I still love them, since they are all My creations. Yes, I even love Lucifer and the fallen ones, though I work against him. But that will never change My eternal and unconditional love for all My children."**

Satan was about to say a quick reply, before the Father cut him off.

**"I know that such a concept might seem illogical, but it is not. You see, you and all the denizens of the Universe think that Lucifer the Kitsune God is a rebel against My design and is the creator of all Evil, who tries to thwart all of My eternal goodness." **

**"However, you forget one major note; I created _everything_, including Lucifer himself, along with you and the entire Universe. And that includes Evil, as well. Yes, Satan. _I _am the real creator of Evil. I brought both the light and the dark into creation. It is I, Altus, the Lord your God, the Lord alone, who does all of this. Nothing could ever be independent of Me."**

"But if You create all that is evil, and if You wish for only the best for Your people... Why do You tolerate what is evil and refuse to simply destroy Lucifer permanently right now?"

**"I look upon the Universe, and I see Evil in all of its forms, especially in the offspring of Lucifer himself, the Shroud Horde. I have the power to fix all of it, but I can not. I must not. I want to help My children with all of My heart and soul, but I won't. The Freedom to choose is the greatest gift all of creation has. To eliminate Evil would deny them that gift****. In addition, I promised myself to never eliminate anything that I had created; Evil itself fell into that category."**

Maledict paused in thought and in consideration. "Very well. I think I see now. But what does that have to do with Your relationship to Lucifer, the Enemy?"

**"I will always consider Lucifer as My child, no matter what he or his forms do to My creation. My everlasting Kindness includes them as well. Lucifer is the Bringer of the Dawn, My supreme servant, and one of My children along with you and Allysion." **

**"Do not forget, Satan, that Lucifer is your birth-brother."**

The Devil sighed angrily, remembering the last time he fought Lucifer before the Universe was ever created, right before the Kitsune God and his followers were imprisoned beyond all time and space.

"I'll never forget that day..." Maledict muttered his reply.

**"You also forget, My child, that I am not limited by your mere interpretations of good and evil. I am not limited by what you think is right and wrong, for I am infinitely good and infinitely evil at the same time. Despite his divinity, Lucifer was never ever a threat to me at all; even his power is but a sextillionth of the power I possess. I _control_ Lucifer, along with you and everything else."**

**"Behold, Satan, for before you or Lucifer or the entire Universe came to be, I AM WHO I AM."**

"Now _that_ I do know," Satan spoke, waving his finger a bit, "But what is the relationship between Lucifer and Dark Tails? And exactly how can we stop him?"

**"Dark Tails is a part of Lucifer; literally, Dark Tails is a _manifestation _of his will. In fact, the entire Shroud Horde is a manifestation of him; so are Salcerus and Shroud Prime, the ones who gave birth to the Shroud."**

**"Unlike what you thought before, however, Dark Tails is not explicitly related to Miles Prower. As such, your hypothesis that they feel the same things, including pain, is incorrect."**

"Oh?" The Devil looked surprised.

**"But you were not totally wrong, you see. Even though your inference about the synchronicity of Dark Tails and Tails was incorrect, your inference about their souls being one _was _correct. Indeed, if Dark Tails dies, then Miles Prower will pass with him."**

"Then You know how to stop him, right? You must know how to stop Dark Tails!" Satan exclaimed.

The Father simply raised up one of His liquid fingers, shushing the Devil in his sentence.

**"It seems that despite your best efforts, you still don't truly understand the meaning of the Legend of Disaster."**

"What does that have to do with Dark Tails?"

**"Everything, Satan. Unfortunately, I cannot say more than that for the sake of all. It is time for Me to depart. Goodbye for now, My child."**

"Wait! Father!"

But before he could say anything, Maledict felt his eyes snap shut momentarily, and then snap right back open. He found himself right back on the cliff above Lake Gehenna, this time on his hands and knees, mere inches from the massive cliff dropping straight down hundreds of feet into the lake of fire.

The Devil breathed slowly in an out, trying to comprehend Altus's words.

"My lord?"

A low, serious, and monotonous voice sounded from behind Maledict. Satan stood up slowly and faced the Demon behind it.

It wasn't Beelzebub or Astorath, however.

Instead of having the appearance of either of them, this Demon was a moderately tall humanoid looking very similar to Astorath and the other Hell Knights, except much shorter and considerably less buff. He was wearing a crisp, clean suit, and his face betrayed no emotion whatsoever. He also had two goat-like horns attached via a mechanical implant on his bald head, and he had a cute little goatee on his chin.

"Ah, Azazel! Long time, no see." Satan smiled as he turned around.

Azazel, the Goat Demon, was Maledict's personal butler and manservant. Despite his servitude to the Devil, Azazel still wielded great power and prestige; however, being extremely humble and modestly unswerving, he disliked mentioning his possessions or position out of pride.

"Sorry I was away, _Zir_. I had some jobs to partake with the Prophets over the past few months, ever since before the last New Year."

"Hey, man, it's alright. Interesting to find you here of all places, though."

"I have made you some food. Would you like to eat it?" The Goat Demon asked.

"Sure thing."

Both the Devil and his manservant left the cliffside briskly.

...

Meanwhile, out in the vacuum of space, the crew of the emerald-green cruiser known as the Dreadnought were lounging around doin' nothing.

"Hey guys, don't you think that it's time we go do something?" Eric suggested.

"If we get some money on the way, it's fine." Fang was the only one who replied.

"Is that the only thing you care about?" Sonya also asked.

"Yes, actually."

"Hey, what's this...?" Nolan heard a beeping noise coming from their ship's scanner. However, Chase was the only one who heard his curious inquiry, and he came running by to see what Nolan had found.

In a pause to their conversation, Sonya also heard the beeping noise and took a peek.

"_Nani yo_? Whoa, wait a sec, are those all..." Sonya began to say, "... Chaos Emeralds?"

"They can't be Chaos Emeralds. There is way too much Dark Chaos Energy coming from that area." Nolan spoke.

"Then they must be those fake ones that Maledict was manufacturing." Sonya replied.

"Damn, talk about a shitload of shiny rocks," Eric commented from out of nowhere.

"Well, in any case, there apparently is a deserted planet nearby. Those signals are emanating from the surface." Shadow was also investigating.

"Heh, Nolan? What does the scanner say about the power level?" Eric said from out of the blue. Though not many would understand, Nolan totally got where Eric was going to.

**"... IT'S OVER NINE THOUSAAAAAAND!!!!"**

The two hedgehogs fell over on the floor in hysterical laughter. Both Sonya and Shadow sweatdropped.

"_Baka yaro_. You and you're DeTube memes. Sometimes, I just don't understand the two of them." Sonya muttered to Shadow.

"Agreed." Shadow replied.

Eric stood up, stopping his hysterics. "Okay, I'm better now. Let's get going to this planet and see what these odd readings are all about."

Everyone went around the bridge to their stations, preparing to warp towards the Chaos signals. Sonya, however, noticed just then that for the entire time they had been speaking, Alice had just been sitting silently in her chair, staring off into space like she had been hypnotized.

_"There's more to this..."_ Alice suddenly muttered for no apparent reason.

"Alice?" The young cat nearly jumped out of her seat in surprise.

"You okay?"

"Ummm... yeah." Alice hurriedly replied.

...

About a half-hour later, Eric and his crew had made planetfall on the deserted rock where they had found the Emerald signals.

"Wonder what happened here?" Eric spoke as he looked around, since he already had his gear gathered. The planet didn't really have an atmosphere; the sky took the appearance of a starry nighttime. The ground was scorched and barren, as if a wildfire had swept through the area recently.

"I didn't get much information. When I took a scan, the readings said that it was a completely unknown planet. Apparently, from what little I was able to gather, this planet was once a flourishing paradise, but not too long ago, it was devastated and corrupted by a strange phenomena associated with Dark Chaos Energy." Sonya explained.

"A Dark Chaos Meteor, perhaps?" Brian suggested.

"No idea. But perhaps with a little bit of exploration, we can find the answer." Nolan added.

A cackling noise came from somewhere on Eric's body.

"I have a Geiger counter on me. That was just it detecting something." Eric explained the noise. He then turned around and walked forwards slowly, being very cautious of anything in wait.

As he kept moving, his counter suddenly went spasmic with crackling noises, detecting a massive surge of radiation.

And that is when Eric realized what it was; behind a large boulder to his left was a clump of pure Dark Chaos Energy covering the ground like a gel. Of course, with that, he also noticed very quickly that he was on a cliffside.

Peeking out over the cliffside, Eric oversaw a scene of annihilation; a a valley that was completely covered with Dark Chaos Energy. His Geiger counter essentially broke, the radiation was so pronounced. There were the scorched remains of trees and various plants scattered along the valley floor; they too were covered by Dark Chaos Energy.

Eric was so caught up in the odd mix of beauty and horror that he didn't even noticed that the rest of his friends had also joined him.

"Whoa!" Chase, Nolan, and Brian exclaimed in unison.

"That's what _she_ said..." Fang muttered. But nobody heard him except for Chase, who gave him an askance look.

"Something here doesn't make sense. How did all this Dark Chaos Energy corrupt this place?" Shadow asked.

"Well, I think I might have the answer." Eric spoke up. "I just detected a pocket of moving Dark Chaos Energy somewhere near our location. It's expanding, too."

"Maybe that is the thing that detroyed this area." Nolan spoke. "Let's go see."

With that, all of them followed Eric as he proceeded to the Dark Energy readings.

...

Eric the Hedgehog and his motley crew walked normally into the small arena-like depression, the same location where the readings had come from.

"There's nothing here." Sonya commented. Indeed, there was not even a trace of Dark Chaos Energy anywhere.

Just when all of them thought otherwise, the air suddenly became filled with blue particles, floating silently in the air.

"What's this?" Fang asked, getting out his sniper rifle. Everybody else also took out their weapons in preparation for an ambush.

The particles began to shift, collecting near the center of the arena. Slowly but surely, they began to form a bubbling puddle of pure Dark Chaos Energy. From this puddle rose the same creature that Miles Prower had already, or so he had explained to them during the party aboard his ship.

However, the Dark Chaos creature did nothing; he simply stood there silently. The only sound that could be heard was the Chaos Energy inside the fox's body reacting and shifting.

Without any warning whatsoever, Eric turned towards him, pulled his dual magnums from out of nowhere, and let off several pot-shots at the fox. The bullets literally splashed harmlessly and sailed right through the fox's body, implanting themselves in the back wall.

Sonya did the same thing with her Demon plasma rifle; the result was pretty much the exact same. Finally, Fang drew his sniper rifle and fired a single round through the kitsune's head; it also was totally useless.

Dark Tails merely blinked the pupiless white masses that were his eyes; it was not obvious what the creature was either feeling or planning to do.

With that, Sonya drew one of her all-new plasma daggers and threw it at the kitsune, ninja style. As it sailed into the Dark Kitsune's head, it cut a large hole as it went right through the cranium, impacting the back wall and dropping to the floor. However, the cerebral hole filled itself in, regenerating completely.

"_Kuba_!" The purple hedgehog cursed.

Suddenly, a small ball of blue Dark Chaos Energy appeared in the Dark Kitsune's hand, though only Sonya noticed.

With that, Dark Tails raised his hand, and from his glove came a huge blue lance of pure Dark Chaos Energy. It left a small cratered path as it zoomed straight for the teenaged hedgehog. In fear, she closed her eyes, awaiting the blow.

_SHING!_

A noise came from in front of her, along with a gasp from Shadow. However, Sonya herself felt nothing at all.

Sonya opened her eyes; Alice stood in front of her, the blue lance of energy impaling her through the torso as it slowly absorbed all the Dark Chaos Energy in her body.

**"Alice! No!"** The hedgehog cried out in horror.

Alice, stunned by the attack, was still able to turn her head around to face Sonya. As the lance fizzled out, she gave a small, sweet smile towards her best friend before her lifeless body collapsed onto the stone floor.

For a few seconds, Sonya and her friends just stood there, frozen at what had just happened right before their eyes. Sonya, however, snapped out of it and dove next to Alice, holding her corpse and checking for any signs of life. Unfortunately, there was none whatsoever.

"... Oh my god, you killed Alice!" Eric exclaimed.

"YOU BASTARD!" Nolan followed up with the legendary _South Park_ reference. He pulled out his grenade launcher and fired several explosives at Dark Tails; of course, none of them had any effect on him.

Sonya let go of Alice's dead body without a word and stood up slowly.

"Sonya... what are you doing?" Shadow asked.

**"... _Shinezu buso kuso!!!_"**

With that oracle of doom in her native tongue, Sonya drew her dual purple-hued plasma katanas with lightening speed. Bolting at Dark Tails faster than anyone thought possible, she slashed her swords as powerfully as she could right through the kitsune's body.

Unfortunately, however, she slashed at nothing but air; Dark Tails had vanished. The purple hedgehog straightened herself, readying her keen warrior senses for anything and everything.

However, her preparedness was uneeded; with final, haughty ghostly laugh, Dark Tails was gone, and any chance of avenging Alice went with him.

As she caught her breath through her fury and tears, she managed to notice one last important thing.

"What the... **Where is her body?!" **The teenaged hedgehog cried, still keeping in her rage and tears.

"I dunno. Her corpse randomly began glowing blue, and then it turned into Dark Chaos Energy and disappeared." Eric explained intelectually, rubbing his chin emotionlessly like a scientist. "I'm not totally sure what that fox did with her, but perhaps he was using her body as a source of energy. Very interesting... Something I need to take a look at later..."

"Eric! What the hell are you **SAYING**?! One of our friends just died, and you want to research why she is dead?!" Tears began flowing down the purple hedgehog's face. "She's dead because of that **BASTARDLY GODDAMN MOTHRFUCKING**...." She began to curse and swear so much in both Japanese and English that the invisible censor in her brain overloaded and detonated.

"Get ahold of yourself, woman!" Fang grabbed Sonya and violently shook her back and forth.

"Fang! Stop it right now! You're not helping us here!" Shadow pulled the money-loving weasel off of the girl.

"We have to find that dark fox!" Nolan declared needlessly.

"And exactly how do you propose we do that?" Brian retorted.

Through this epicly loud and long argument, Eric simply stood where he was silently, thinking to himself as he let the anger flow around him. Soon, however, everything was coming to a head.

**"ENOUGH!!!" **Eric shouted above everyone. The room fell tomb-silent at once; this was so un-Eric-like behavior that they were stunned speechless.

Now that he had everyone's attention, he cleared his throat and began to speak. "There is no use fighting about this. Alice is dead, and there's nothing we can do about it now, so it's pointless to be blaming others, because it won't bring her back. Along with that, obviously, there is no Chaos Emerald here; we've been had. I have a feeling that was also the work of that Dark Chaos fox. We have to get going and see if we can find any other Emeralds."

Sonya wiped away the tears that had been on her cheeks, even though she was still both angry and devastated. Shadow had his arms around her in consolation.

"Eric's right, guys. Let's go." Fang sided with the green hedgehog.

...

Tsali Z'Charon pulled what appeared to be a blank book on the bookshelf of the living room of his hideout. Trinity was also looking around at his shelf, trying to find any books that he knew of or had heard about. Unfortunately, there were none.

"Hey, what is that?" Trinity asked the Ultimate Weapon.

"An old photo-album of my family. One of my surviving relatives had it, and gave it to me before he died." Tsali explained.

Trinity took the book and quickly paged through the pages; most of them, as he saw, had a brown fox and a little female orange fox.

"Who are these guys?" Trinity asked.

"That is me," Tsali pointed to the brown fox, "and that is my younger sister, Limit." He pointed to the orange fox.

"Huh, if that's you, then this picture must be quite old."

"More than 30 years, in fact." Tsali corrected him.

Trinity turned the page; there was a picture of two different, taller kitsunes.

"And who are those two?"

"Those were my parents." Tsali replied, staring at the picture.

"_Were_? What happened to them?"

"They all died when my home planet of Thyferra was destroyed three decades ago. My sister was among the dead. I should've died with them, but by some twist of fate, I lived to tell the tale." Tsali obviously was trying to explain the story as bluntly as possible.

"Oh. Sorry I asked." Trinity apologized.

"It doesn't matter now." Tsali stood up, taking the book and putting it away neatly on the shelf.

"By the by, Trinity..." Tsali began to say from out of the blue, "Did I ever tell you that once, I was actually the leader of what people would call a 'gang'?"

"No." Trinity said, listening intently.

"About twenty-seven years ago, only a few years after the annihilation of Planet Seedrius at the hands of the Demon Empire, I met a large bevy of companions, some of whom became my first friends. We were all united in our primary goal; the complete obliteration of the Seedrians and the Metarex. There were six others in the group besides me. We completed many missions and jobs as a team. However, by assisting me, the most wanted person in the Universe, they set up massive bounties on their own heads and became the hunted. I survived once again, of course, but all of my friends were killed."

Trinity blinked silently in response.

"... And that is why I will soon succeed in doing what I vowed to do thirty years ago, and that is why I will soon give a meaning to the deaths of my friends."

"What do you mean?"

Tsali turned around and eyed Trinity with his cobalt pupils. Though his face was blank, Trinity could see pure evil and bloodlust in Tsali's eyes.

"... Cosmo the Seedrian... will die by my hand." Tsali declared.

"Why exactly do you want her dead, Tsali? She had nothing to do with what Dark Oak did to you..." Trinity tried to reason with the Ultimate Weapon in hidden desperation.

"You are kidding me. Dark Oak is Cosmo's father! He and all the members of his cursed species are guilty of the same crime. And that is why they all must die." Tsali retorted stubbornly as he grabbed a folded-up piece of paper and put it on the small table in the center of the living room.

Unfolding it; its purpose was revealed; the paper was a large blueprint of the Blue Typhoon.

"Where did you get that?" Trinity asked.

"I... _borrowed _it from Tails's workshop when I first landed on Mobius." Tsali lied. "I have researched its structure and its area, in order to make the best assassination strategy ever, to make the same attack that I am so well-known for." Tsali then opened a small drawer behind him, taking out a small ornate box studded with sapphires. Opening the lid, Tsali slowly grabbed a huge knife made of pure sapphire.

"This is one of my most prized possessions, with the exception of my Dark Emerald. I built it myself from the shards of the Doma Emerald formerly used by one of my friends. I've been saving this baby for years, in order to use it on Cosmo when I finally got the chance." Tsali showed it to his friend.

Trinity's body tensed up in supressed fury; to hear his own companion talk about killing the girl he loved made Trinity's veins boil.

"I am almost done planning my attack. Very soon, Cosmo will finally have nowhere left to run from me... and nowhere left to hide."

Tsali briskly stepped towards a small metal chest laying in the corner, opening it's lid. Reaching his hand inside, he took out what appeared to be a small green crystal with a miniature galaxy showing inside it.

"This chest is where I keep all of my stolen Planet Eggs. I use them to recharge my power level after my missions." Tsali explained, admiring the Egg he held in his hand.

Without doing anything with it, he threw it back into the chest and closed the lid. The chest locked itself with an emphatic _ping _noise.

"Just a few minutes ago, I got a message from Satan that the Metarex leaders will soon meet up with Sonic and his friends at an obscure location. I'm not sure exactly where it is; he just gave me a random location. Anyway, I am going there as well, just to see if I can rile the two of them up a little more. Stay here until I return. Don't worry, I won't be long."

With that, before Trinity could reply in any way, the Ultimate Weapon was gone.

...

Please enjoy this chapter. The next one probably won't take as long to write. (I hope, lol)


	20. Episode 72: Prelude to Disaster

You will probably find this chapter very interesting.

Oh, and on a side note, today is my 15th birthday, which is why I am uploading this now.

...

**Episode 72: Prelude to Disaster**

Sonic and his friends were slowly approaching a previously-unknown volcanic planet aboard the Typhoon. They had detected Chaos Energy readings on-planet and had come to investigate.

"Hey... There's a signal coming through!"

"Put it up on the screen." Immediately, the signal appeared.

Standing before Sonic and his friends was what appeared to be a tall figure completely encased in purple power armor. The armor had a green visor, hiding the user's face, and it also had a green jem in the center. He was also wearing what looked like a tattered cape, and there was a sheath with a golden sword on his left hip.

_"Hello there, Sonic the Hedgehog and friends."_ The figure spoke. His voice was so distorted and deepened by his armor that it was difficult to understand him clearly.

"Who are you?"

_"I am Dark Oak, the leader of the Metarex." _The figure spoke, "_I have contacted you to ask you to land on the planet. I wish to meet all of you myself, and to see my only surviving daughter again. I also wanted to apologize for the misunderstanding between you and my Confederacy. Some of my robots have attacked you and your ship, which was not my intention, and I would like to say that I do not wish to be your enemy." _

"Umm... okay." Tails declared.

_"Very good. I'll be expecting you."_ The signal cut out.

"Who was he talking about by 'his only surviving daughter'?" Amy asked.

"... Me." Cosmo replied suddenly. Everybody turned and stared at her.

"How the hell do you know?"

"I know who that being is. Years ago, my sisters told me that my father was the creator of the Metarex, and that he had dedicated his entire life to avenging his people that were murdered by Tsali. He was joined by the other survivors, and using the power of the Planet Eggs and a rare Hyper Emerald, he created the Metarex to protect what remained of my species." Cosmo explained, as if she was a machine.

"Huh." Chris stated.

"Well, in that case, then perhaps we can beome allies of the Metarex. Then, we would have some help." Tails suggested.

"But weren't they trying to kill us?" Knuckles remembered. Everyone else looked at him like cows staring at a train. "Uhh... nevermind."

...

As the Blue Typhoon landed on a large grated platform set up over a pool of lava, nobody noticed a certain black robot fox hiding underneath the grating like Spider-Man.

The fox waited with all of his wits as the crew of the Typhoon stepped out of the ship and were escorted inside a large door by two Metarex guards, which closed with a loud clang behind them.

When the coast was clear, the fox teleported into the ractor of the Blue Typhoon. Tsali noticed the Master Emerald was still sitting in the room and was completely unguarded. However, that mattered very little to the Ultimate Weapon.

Remotely hooking his own systems up with the systems of the Blue Typhoon, he accessed the ship's data array and found what he was looking for; the power grid access codes.

Tsali downloaded them into his brain hardware; within a few seconds, he had acess to the entire ship systems.

Just afterward, he teleported onto the bridge of the Typhoon and immediately began searching what he simply assumed to be Tail's chair, thanks to its appearence as a captain's seat.

He quickly found what he was looking for; a blueprint of the entire Typhoon, including a cross-section with power grid layout. He quickly scanned it so that he could upload it and print it when he left. Finally, he had found an accurate reading of the Typhoon.

Though he had one back at his hideout, what he had not told Trinity before was that his version was not necessarily a copy of the Blue Typhoon itself; it was simply a blueprint of the class of ship that Maledict provided him with soon after the heroes left Mobius. Thus, until now, Tsali had not had a completely _accurate_ layout of the Typhoon itself.

"Great. Now that **THAT** is out of the way..."

...

Sonic and his friends strolled into the massive antechamber; just across the room from them was the same figure who contacted them on the ship.

"Good to see you. Let me introduce myself." The figure, all of a sudden, began to take off the helmet of his armor. As he slipped it off, he showed his true indentity; he was a male Seedrian, with purple-tinted skin and green eyes. Two long branches poked out of the sides of his head.

"I am Luke, the former Chief of the Seedrian race, and now the leader of the Metarex." The male Seedrian greeted them. His real voice was powerful, low, and strong, hiding any hints of ageing, though it was obvious that he was middle-aged.

"While I still remember to do so, I wanted to apolagize for my wanton Metarex soldiers trying to attack you earlier; for some reason, we all thought that the young Miles Prower was actually Tsali, so it was a just a big misunderstanding."

"It's perfectly alright, Luke." Chris cordially greeted. Tails snickered a little in annoyance at Luke's misunderstanding, but nobody paid attention to him.

"It's alright, as long as it was just a misunderstanding." Sonic said.

"Trust me, if I would've known that you were all trying to protect her from Tsali, I would've escorted all of you with my whole fleet." Luke chuckled cynically.

Suddenly, the two tall Metarex guards with gray armour took off their helmets as well. Both of them also were male Seedrians. Taking the hint, every other Metarex officer and guard also paused and removed their helmets, revealing their Seedrian features.

Oak was startled by the sight of Cosmo stepping forward. The two of them froze for a single decisive moment, staring at each other in their eyes.

"Cosmo..." Luke stated. Tears of joy began to well up in his eyes.

"Father..." Cosmo began to say, her own eyes swelling. However, she was interrupted by Luke dashing up to her, kneeling down, and hugging her tightly.

"I... I thought... I'd never see you again... my daughter..." Luke stuttered through his joyful tears. After a few seconds, Cosmo broke the hug, looking into his eyes. Though neither of them noticed, everyone else was happy and smiling at the touching moment in front of them.

"You're Cosmo's father?" Amy asked. Nobody replied to her question, because it was already obvious that he was.

"Mom is dead, along with everyone else." Cosmo bluntly informed her father, not heeding Amy's question.

"I know... and it's all because of that bastard Tsali. How did you escape from him?" Luke replied.

"I was able to get aboard an excape pod, and Sonic and his friends took me in when I crashed-landed on their planet. Ever since then, we've fought against both Maledict and Tsali and have been looking for the Chaos Emeralds." Cosmo explained.

"I am forever in your gratitude; you saved my only surviving daughter and helped her through all of this. If it wasn't for them, I never thought I would see you again." Luke thanked them.

**"NOR WOULD I!" **A booming voice echoed throughout the room from an unknown location.

"What the... Show yourself!" Luke yelled at the ceiling.

There was a low chuckle as none other than Tsali the Ultimate Weapon, in the flesh and the black fur, materialized from out of thin air. "WASSUP?" Tsali greeted with an unusually cheery demeanor.

"How did..." Amy began to ask how the hell he found them, but she held it in for later.

"It's been quite a while since I last saw you guys. Have any luck in your little Emerald hunt?" Tsali asked.

"Shut the fuck up, Tsali!" Zelkova shouted aggresively. However, he was stopped by Luke, who blocked him from attacking before stepping forward.

"Tsali... You still don't get it, do you? Maledict is a cheating bastard. He duped me into betraying my own wife, and then tried to kill me as well. Now, he has duped you into believing that I ruined your life." Luke spoke.

"Because you _did_! You turned me into _this_!" Tsali retorted, pointing at himself. Luke, however, was having much better luck controlling his hatred.

"... There is much we can learn from each other, if we can just learn to coexist. If we can end this pointless fight and unite against the _real_ enemy, we can learn to live together. Can there not be a peace?" Luke asked him.

Tsali merely glared at him venomously. "Until you and your entire species become extinct, there will never be a peace."

"What exactly do you want us all to do, Tsali? Do you expect us to talk?" Cosmo asked.

Now, Tsali's venomous glare turned into a small smile as his magnum appeared in his hand as if by magic.

"... Not at all, Cosmo. I expect you to _die_!" He raised his gun and fired three very loud shots.

But before any of them could hit, Luke took out his golden sword, stepped in front of his daughter, and literally deflected all of the high-calibre rounds like he had suddenly turned into a Jedi (ironic considering his name), the metal casings dropping harmlessly to the floor. His sword wasn't even dented, since it was made out of pure Demon alloy.

"So, that's how you wish to play it, eh?" Tsali commented. In his other hand, his black Dark Emerald appeared.

"You can't beat us all, Tsali. The odds are heavily stacked against you." Luke informed him.

"... And it's in those kinds of situations where I _win_! After all, in my last big fight, it was just me and Maledict against all of you, and we kicked your asses real good!"

"Ahem, _Maledict_ was the only one who kicked our asses good, not you." Sonic corrected him.

"Shut the fuck up, blue hedgehog! You only got me because I wasn't prepared for your teamwork. In addition, I had undercharged myself before that battle, so I didn't have any Chaos Energy in my energy cells left to heal myself or to fight you. So, in other words, you caught me when I wasn't at full potential." Tsali explained. "But now, it is not the same. Now, I am _ready_ for you."

"... Right." Knuckles retorted with a sweatdrop.

Tsali glared venomously at him again, pointing his handcannon at the echidna. "Do you seriously think that I wouldn't kill all of you right now and feast on your bodies, echidna?"

"That's enough!" Amy suddenly took out one of her trademark Piko-Piko hammers and sprinted at Tsali with blood on her mind. "This is for Luke and Cosmo!"

She prepared to take a swing. However, it was at that moment when she saw Tsali raise his Colt Anaconda straight at her and clicked the cocking lever into place.

Before even she could react, Tsali pulled the trigger twice. The first magnum round shattered Amy's hammer, sending it flying out of her hand into the wall. The second bullet streaked towards the female hedgehog and found a target in Amy's side.

**"AHHH!"** Amy screamed as she fell backwards onto the ground, clutching her bullet wound. Blood slowly began seeping onto her dress as she whimpered from the extreme pain, as the huge bullet had formed a massive ten-inch gash on her abdomen.

"Amy!" Sonic cried in horror as he ran to help her. Tsali, meanwhile, took a step towards Amy and aimed his weapon right at her head...

... Until, from the corner of his eye, he saw Knuckles leap forward with his fist brandished. Just moments before Knuckles unleashed his punch, Tsali turned and fired another shot at the flying form of Knuckles. This shot found the echidna's arm, and was so strong that it punched his airborne body back onto the floor.

"DAMN!" Knuckles cried in pain as he also held his large bullet wound and blood began staining his glove.

"I told you. I won't hesitate to kill you all right now." Tsali said, smiling slightly at his handiwork.

Two of the Metarex Seedrian guards, both with gray power armor suits, stepped in front of Dark Oak and Cosmo. As the hatches in their suits opened, two miniguns appeared on their arms. Revving up their guns, both Metarex fired.

Before they did, Tsali extended his hand out in front of his as if he was about to use a Chaos attack. His entire body now began to glow slightly blue.

The Metarex unleashed a massive hail of bullets at the Ultimate Weapon. However, all of the plasma rounds began to freeze abruptly in midair, centimeters in front of Tsali's glowing body. As the realized they were not doing anything, the two Seedrians stopped; there were so many bullets floating in front of Tsali that it looked almost like a wall.

The glow left Tsali's body as he lowered his hand. Immediately, the cloud of plasma bullets fell and rolled on the metal floor.

"... Okay, so even after all these years, you _do_ still have some skill, fox." Bay Leaf grumbled reluctantly.

"... But can you face me and my beautiful face?" Narcissus randomly challenged, glancing into his mirror. The other Metarex stared at him and sweatdropped, along with Tsali himself. However, they all regained their composure quickly.

"Tsali, it is my belief that you cannot be allowed to kill any more innocent people, and that this conflict should never have started..." Luke began to state.

"... And it is _MY _belief that you are such a stupid motherfucker, you would actually fall for that bullshit! GUARANTEED!" Tsali interrupted with a DeTube quote, looking at his revolver and cleaning it with his tail fur.

Just as he prepared to let off another shot at somebody with his now-clean weapon, he was suddenly interrupted by the loud click of a large gun behind his head.

_SHING! _Tsali felt something plunge right through his chest, and looked down; a long-light-blue energy blade had been run straight through from behind. However, Tsali's power was such that it was not instantly lethal, but instead only gave him some mild pain in his body as the sword then was pulled out of his body.

The Ultimate Weapon, still on his feet and unfazed by what had just happened despite the giant smoking burn that now scarred his chest fur, turned around, and before him was the person he had been most afraid of meeting again.

"Tephiroth!" Tails yelled in surprise. Indeed, standing right behind Tsali was the Three-Winged Angel himself, with a giant diamond double-barrelled shotgun in one hand and his excessively-long Emerald Sword in his other. There was also a piece of paper on his belt.

"Wait a sec, who are you?" Luke asked.

"Hello, Tsali Z'Charon." Tephiroth greeted as his quarry turned to face him. "I am the Three-Winged Angel, and in my hand is a kill order from Jesus Christ with your name on it."

Tephiroth suddenly deactivaterd him sword and opened up the visible note in his belt hand to show Tsali. The entire note was written in Latin, with Jesus's signature on the bottom, along with Tsali's name.

When Tsali did not say anything in reply, the Angel assassin continued. "I'll grant you a merciful death, Tsali; more than can be said for the countless innocent people you indisctriminately tortured and murdered."

"Well then, Tephy, you should know one thing; when I finally exterminate the Seedrians, you and your Federation will be next." Tsali now looked over his shoulder and pointed at Cosmo.

"... Seedrian, I swear to Altus that before this month is done, you will be dead!" Tsali gave his oracle of doom towards her, "... And so will all of you!" He now pointed to all of the other Seedrians.

"If you so much as_ touch _my daughter, even Maledict himself will _cry_ when he sees what I've done to you!" Luke retorted with fury.

Tsali smiled. "We'll see... about that."

Before Tephiroth could shoot him with his diamond shotgun, Tsali vanished in the distinctive blue flash of Chaos Control.

The Three Winged Angel re-holstered his sparkling boomstick and extended his hand. With a bright-blue glow, the bullet wounds that Amy and Knuckles had taken regenerated themselves, though there was still blood on the skin and a small mark where the bullet had penetrated.

"Hmph... I can't _begin_ to tell you how lucky you all are that I have no kill orders for any of you." The Angel assassin cryptically stated before also warping away.

...

Tephiroth reappeared in Allysion's antechamber in the core unipod of New Jerusalem. To his surprise, he wasn't the only person in the room; the familiar forms of Metatron, Jesus, and Judas Iscariot, with the ghost of Allysion floating behind them, were already there.

To his surprise, Jesus also seemed to have a small diamond pipe in his mouth. He took short, liberal puffs, with small amounts of clear smoke coming from the tip.

Now this was not because Christ was a drug addict; rather, in the Angel Federation, it was considered that a pipe was the sign of a gentleman of respect and repute. In addition, the mixture of clear chemicals that the Angels smoked in their pipes were not harmful in any way and unlike primitive human-made drugs had no long-term health problems.

But even then, he rarely used it; Jesus only used it in times of either massive stress, massive joy, or massive intrigue. Tephiroth thought that it was probably the third reason why he was using it now.

_**"... And read this passage here, too..."** _Tephiroth could hear Allysion's spirit quietly talking.

"Hello?" Tephiroth made his presence known. Only Allysion herself acknowledged him; Metatron, Jesus, and Judas simply kept reading and ignored them, and Jesus kept puffing on his pipe.

_"**Oh, hello Tephiroth, you're just in time. Come over here quickly!" **_The ghostly female hedgehog commanded. Tephiroth briskly stepped to her side and looked at the screen they were gathered around. On it were many many lines of what appeared to be writing of some sort.

"What are you guys doing...?" Tephiroth asked his leader.

_**"Look here."** _Allysion pointed at the screen. _**"Earlier today, MARY was able to translate more of the Legend of Disaster."**_

"What more does it say?"

_**"There is not too much new information that we haven't seen before, but there are many fine details on the Prophecy, including some info on the enigmatic day of judgement that was being referenced before."**_

"So?" Tephiroth asked.

**_"Take a look." _**Allysion scrolled down the screen, showing more writing. It said;

...

_Bloweth the trumpet in Armageddon, soundeth the alarm on the Universe! __Let all who dwell tremble, for thy day of vengeance has come._

_Yes, it is near, a day of Darkness and and of gloom, a day of clouds and somberness! A day of anguish and distress, of destruction and desolation, of thick black clouds, of trumpet blast and battle cry!_

_Like dawn spreading over the mountains, the Forerunners, numerous and mighty! Their like has not been from of old, nor will it be after them, even to the years of distant generations. __Before them a fire devours, and behind them a flame kindles. __Like Eden is the land before them, __and after them is like Hell, for from them, there is no escape._

_Their appearance is like that of vultures descending on a carcass. As with the rumble of chariots, the leap on the mountains, and with the cackling of fiery flame, devouring planets and galaxies. Like a mighty people, arrayed for battle, before thou are people in torment, every face blanches._

_Like warriors they run, like soldiers they scale the wall. They advance, each in his own lane, without swerving from their paths. Though they fall into the ditches, their advance is not checked. No one crowds another; each advances in his own track._

_They assaulteth the fortress of Megiddo, they run upon the wall, they climb into the houses. In at the windows, they cometh like thieves._

_Before thine, the galaxies tremble, the Universe shakes, the stars are darkened, and the planets slowly die offward._

_The Kitsune God raiseth his voice, at the head of his army. For immense indeed is his camp; yes, mighty, and it does his bidding. Great is Thy day of vengeance, and exceedingly terrible; who can possibly bear it?_

_All thou people, Armageddon! Proclaimeth a fast, call a final assembly, gathereth the soldiers, notify the congregation and the elders. Between the porch and the altar, the leaders of the resistance weepeth and cry out,_

_"Spare, O Lord, your people, and make not your heritage a reproach, with the nation ruling over them!"_

_Yes, in those days, saith the Lord, I will assemble all of the nations, a__nd I will bringeth them before the fortress of Megiddo, and I will enter into judgement with them there. It shalt be a time unsurpassed in distress since nations began up to that time._

_Declare this among the nations! Proclaimeth a war, rouse the warrior to arms! Let all the soldiers report and march! __Beateth your plowshares into swords, and your pruning hooks into spears, and let the weak man say, "I am a warrior!"_

_Alas, thy day! For near is the day of the Lord of hosts, and it comes as ruin from the Kitsune God._

_From before our very eyes, has not the food been cut off? The seed lies shriveled under its clods, the stores are destroyed, the barns are broken down, the pasturage burned as fuel for flames._

_Apply thy sickle, for the harvest is ripe! Come and tread, for the wine press is full! The vats overfloweth, for great is their malice. _

_Before the fortress of Megiddo, says the Lord, the Universe shalt taste the full wine of the wrath of the Kitsune God. __He will sweepeth all things away from the face of the Universe. He will sweepeth away man and beast, and all the creatures of the water and the air, and of space._

_And on that day, the blood of the Demons and the Angels alike shall be poured out like dust, and their brains like dung, for all of their abominations and heathen practices. Neither their warriors nor their riches nor their minds will saveth them on the day of the Lord's wrath, when in the fire of Thy vengeance, all the Universe shalt be consumed._

...

Without warning, it stopped scrolling down, as if the system had froze. As if on cue, the writing vanished, and in its place was a red "ERROR" message.

_**"MARY, what's going on?" **_Allysion asked.

**"Aquired translated data is corrupt. Document lost. Attempting system restoration..."** The tinny voice of MARY was heard in reply.

"Shit," Judas swore angrily.

"What is the matter? I demand to know!" Metatron yelled in a loud voice, being temperamental for no obvious reason.

"It seems that the translation file is corrupt." Tephiroth explained the problem to him calmly.

"Hmmm..." Jesus muttered, taking a short puff from his ornate pipe. He took it out of his mouth and slipped it into the pocket of his trousers. "Is there any way to recover the file?"

"I think that's what MARY's doing right now." Judas replied.

_**"Well, hopefully, because we don't have long." **_Allysion stated.

"Why exactly do we not have long?" Jesus asked, turning towards her ghost.

**_"... I sense a growing power in Universe, one that is ripping the fabric of time and space itself. By now, that fabric is at the tearing point; we must hurry if our cause is to survive, for this Prophecy must be coming true..." _**

Before anyone could refute her, her ghost vanished into the air.

"... I wonder what has been up with her lately?" Judas asked towards his friend Jesus in a quiet voice.

"I don't know. But _something _important is obviously troubling her and is causing her a great deal of pain." Christ replied.

"You think she's _still _reminiscing over Maledict like an emo?" Judas asked.

"Mmmm... I don't think so. She doesn't sound like she's really _depressed_, in the truest sense of the word. She seems a little bit more desperate than normal."

"Whatever! Judas Iscariot, chop chop! We must get back to sketching our battleplans!" Metatron briskly shouted like a drill sergeant and marched out of the room.

"Oh no... Sorry Jesus, I'll talk to you later. He hasn't been in a good mood ever since Dark Tails killed one of his best Advisors." The Apostle hurriedly parted.

"It's okay. See you later." Jesus refuted his apology.

With that, the former Jewish _sicarii _assassin followed Metatron out of the chamber.

"By the by, Tephiroth, did you get the chance to kill Tsali?" Jesus asked.

"No, sir. He escaped just before I eliminated him."

"Oh well. I'm sure the Devil will soon have to deal with him when he inevitably finds out the truth, so we will let our adversary do the work. But enough with that for now. Currently, I have something much more important for you. Come with me. I must give you some more important information."

Jesus took a step towards the screen.

"MARY, bring up the biological makeup of the Dark Kitsune."

With that, a picture of Dark Tails, showing the inner workings of his liquid body, came on the screen.

"I have recently found out something interesting. Normally, Dark Tails is a liquid being and could never attain a walking form, but it appears that using the power of solid Dark Chaos Energy, he can form and then dispose of his bones at will to stand or move. In addition, no projectiles weapons will work on him; they will just sail harmlessly right through him." Jesus explained.

"I know that already. What's your point?" Tephiroth asked skeptically.

"Well... a few days ago, I found a strange signal emanating from a part of Dark Tails's brain, which can also dissolve and reform at will just like the rest of his body. It was almost like it was some sort of language... but when I tried to track the signal, I found that it was completely untraceable. The language was also completely unknown, even to our most advanced translators."

"An alien signal, you mean?"

"Yes. But that is not all."

"Oh?"

"... Yesterday, when I was repairing MARY, I suddenly detected the same signal coming from the Forerunner artifacts that form her mainframe. I cross-examined it with Dark Tails's brain signal, and they are exactly the same. Listen to this."

Jesus flipped on a nearby switch, and a recording began to play. At first, all was quiet, but then, a strange pulsating noise, similar to a large machine turning on, slowly became louder and louder.

"Do we even know what this signal means, or where its origin is?" The Three-Winged Angel questioned.

"Unfortunately, no. The only thing we know for certain is that Dark Tails and these Forerunner artifacts are somehow connected. How they are connected, we don't know yet. And that is exactly what I need you to do. Search the entire Milky Way Galaxy and find any evidence of the identity of this mysterious signal. Something about it is very... unusual, and it's beginning to worry me." Jesus ordered.

"Yes, sir." With a crisp salute, Tephiroth was gone.

...

Lord Maledict sat in his regular mediation spot on the cliff overlooking Lake Gehenna, contemplating the words he had heard from his Father, Altus the One True God.

He was trying to make a mental note of the various lines and prophecies from the Legend of Disaster, for Altus had told him that he "obviously did not know the true meaning" of the Prophecy. The Devil had been mystified by those words in particular, and by the whole conversation in general.

And yet, from everything he recalled from reading out of the Prophecy, he still did not quite understand it. Indeed, his Father had been right, as He always was, since after all, he _was_ omniscient.

Satan cleared his thoughts and his subconcious mind as he prepared to enter into the realm of visions, preparing to see what lay ahead for the future.

...

_To his surprise, he suddenly found himself floating in what appeared to be normal space, with stars twinkling every which way around his body. Everything appeared to be normal..._

_Until, all of a sudden, he felt what seemed like a strong driving wind flow through his quills. It made the Devil unprepared for what came next._

_Before Satan could even comprehend the wind, a massive blinding light shone in his face as the fabric of space itself ripped open and parted into an interdimensional portal thousands of galaxies in size. It was so large that it seemed towering over all, even though Maledict could tell it was millions of light-years away._

_The sight was awe-inspiring, even to Satan himself; it was more grand and more majestic than anything he had ever seen in his long life. For several seconds, he didn't even breathe, for his breath had been taken away by the sight._

_The Devil suddenly began to see what appeared to be a cloud of silver and gold pouring through the interdimensional quantum rift. _

_It was only after a few seconds of squinting that he realized what they were. Originally, he thought they were birds; in reality, they were literally centillions of giant alien machines, flying through the rift in formation. Each one was the size of a medium-sized star, and they all had silver armor with gold streaks and patterns. Each alien flying fortress had very sleek designs, with unusual geometric shapes and obtuse appearances._

_However, Maledict's initial awe turned into horror when another vision came to him; a vision of Planet Hell appeared to his left, and he saw a group of the unknown alien ships fly close to the planet. Before they had done anything to it, as if by magic, the entire Demon home planet began glowing a bright red and literally crumbled into dust, its pieces drifting away into space._

_Satan heard the anguished cries of trillions of his comrades sound in his mind; all of the Demons who had been on Planet Hell when it was obliterated by these aliens. He put his hands on his head; his brain was throbbing from the both the noise and his own shock._

_He squeezed his eyes tightly, and the next time he opened them, the vision had ended._

...

Maledict slouched back on the hard stone cliff that he was now sitting on; he had been totally unprepared for this apocalyptic vision of a universal cataclysm. He glanced around at his fiery surroundings; to think that all of this would eventually be gone almost scared him a little.

"These visions are becoming much more common, and every day, they are getting more visceral and surreal... There is something big about to happen. I can feel it everywhere." The Devil said to himself as he got off the ground and got to his feet.

**"There you are!" **Maledict heard a voice behind him. He slowly turned around; Beelzebub was flying towards him.

"Oh, hello there. What's wrong?" Maledict asked.

"... We've lost contact with Tsali. His lifesign monitor has deactivated, and when I tried to get a read on his location, his homing computer chip didn't respond."

"He's hiding what he is about to do from us." Satan spoke, having seen this in one of his visions.

"What exactly is he about to do?"

"He is about to infiltrate the Blue Typhoon and kill Cosmo the Seedrian." The Devil replied with overwhelming amounts of sheepishness.

"Oh. But I thought you said..."

"Yes, I did forbid him to harm her or her friends on pain of eternal torment. But now, he has completely lost has mind in his desire for revenge. Now, our time has come. Rally the fleet around the Milky Way Galaxy and begin moving towards the galactic coordinates (0, 0, 0).

"Okay. Oh, umm... One last thing." Mr. Fudgeicle added.

"What is it?" Satan asked.

Beelzebub handed him a small holo-card. "We finally were able to translate another stanza of the Legend of Disaster."

"Awesome. Something new to read, for once."

"Not so fast, my lord. Take a look at the translation for a moment."

Maledict turned on the holo-card. From the projecter, a bright-red holographic message began playing;

...

_Lo and behold, before my very eyes, the seas of space began to part. _

_I saw a beast coming up out of the sea, having six spines, and on his spines ten diadems, and upon his head names of blasphemy against the Kitsune God. And the beast which I saw was like unto a black hedgehog. A red pentacle was emblazoned on its stomach. _

_Half of the whole Universe wondered after the beast, and they worshipped the hedgehog, saying, "Who is like unto the beast? And who is able to war with him?"_

_It was given unto the hedgehog to make war with the people, and to overcome them, and there was given to him authority over every tribe and people and tongue and nation._ _He opened his mouth for blasphemies against the Kitsune God, to blaspheme his name, and his glory, and his people._

_I saw another beast coming up out of the stars; and he had two heads and two horns like unto lambs, and he spake as a dragon. __And he had heads unto locusts and muscles unto gorillas. And he maketh half the Universe and them dwell therein to worship the black hedgehog. __The hedgehog beast doeth great signs, that he should even make fire to come down upon the stars in plain sight. _

_And the second beast built a great city for the black hedgehog, and he ruled the kings of all from that place; let he with knowledge understand, for the name of that doomed place is Caronius._

_And lo and behold, once more, another sign appeared from the stars._

_I saw a purple female hedgehog sitting upon a blue-colored panther, full of names of blasphemy, having four heads and ten horns. __And the female hedgehog was arrayed and decked with gold and precious stone and pearls, having in her hand a golden cup full of abominations, even the unclean things of her fornication. _

_U__pon her forehead a name was written; **"ALLYSION, JERUSALEM THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND OF ABOMINATIONS OF THE UNIVERSE"**_

_And I saw the woman drunken with the blood of the saints, and with the blood of the martyrs of Lucifer._

_And the hedgehog beast shall hate the harlot, and shall make her desolate and naked, and shall eat her flesh, and shall burn her utterly with fire. And the purple hedgehog shall destroy the lands of the beast, and massacre his people with her abominations._

_After these things I saw a Forerunner coming down out of the stars, having great authority; and the Universe was lightened with his glory. __And he cried with a mighty voice, saying;_

_"Fallen, fallen is Caronius and New Jerusalem, and they become a habitation of monsters, and a hold of every unclean spirit, and a hold of every unclean and hateful creature. For by the wine of the wrath of their crimes, all the nations are fallen; and the kings of the Universe committed fornication with them, and the merchants of the earth waxed rich by the power of their wantonness." _

_And I heard another voice from heaven, saying, _

_**"Come forth, my people, out of her, that ye have no fellowship with their sins, and that ye receive not of their plagues; for their sins have reached even unto heaven, and Lord Lucifer hath remembered their iniquities."**_

_Therefore, in one day shall their plagues come, death, and mourning, and famine; and they shall be utterly burned with fire; for strong is the Kitsune God who judged them._

_And the kings of the stars, who committed fornication and lived wantonly with them, shall weep and wail over them, when they look upon the smoke of their burning, standing afar off for the fear of their torments, saying,_

_"Woe, woe, the great cities, Caronius and New Jerusalem, the strong cities! For in one hour thine judgment hath come."_

_And the merchants of the Universe weep and mourn over them, for none buyeth their merchandise any more; merchandise of gold, and silver, and precious stone, and pearls, and fine linen, and purple, and silk, and scarlet; and all thyine wood, and every vessel of ivory, and every vessel made of most precious alloys, and of brass, and iron, and marble; and cinnamon, and spice, and incense, and ointment, and frankincense, and wine, and oil, and fine flour, and wheat, and cattle, and sheep; and merchandise of horses and chariots and slaves; and souls._

_The merchants of these things, who were made rich by them, shall stand afar off for the fear of their torment, weeping and mourning, saying;_

_"Woe, woe, the great cities, she that was arrayed in gold and precious stone and pearl, and he that madeth all worship himself! For in an hour, so great riches are made desolate."_

_And every shipmaster, and every one that saileth any galaxies, and space mariners, and as many as gain their living by trade, stood afar off, and cried out as they looked upon the smoke of their burning, saying "What city is like the great cities?"_

_And they cast dust on their heads, and cried, weeping and mourning, saying;_

_"Woe, woe, the great cities, wherein all that had their ships in the stars were made rich by reason of their costliness! For in one hour are they made desolate."_

_Rejoice over them, thou Forerunners, and ye people, and ye allies; for the Kitsune God hath judged your judgment on them._

_And a Forerunner took up a stone as it were a great millstone and cast it into oblivion, saying,_

_"Thus, with a mighty fall shall Caronius and New Jerusalem, the great cities, be cast down, and shall be found no more at all. The voice of harpers and minstrels and flute-players and trumpeters shall be heard no more at all in thee; and no craftsman, of whatsoever craft, shall be found any more at all in thee; and the voice of a mill shall be heard no more at all in thee; and the light of a lamp shall shine no more at all in thee; and the voice of the bridegroom and of the bride shall be heard no more at all in thee: for thy merchants were the princes of the Universe; for with thy sorcery were all the nations deceived. And in them was found the blood of prophets and of saints, and of all that have been slain upon the Universe."_

...

Whew. I finally got this done.

I am REALLY looking forward to the next Episode, and I have a feeling all of you agree with me.


	21. Episode 73: Tsali Strikes Back

Now THIS is a chapter I have been dying to write since before I even began writing this fanfic.

Please review and, as always, enjoy.

**_Important Warning:_** There is a brutal torture/Satanic occult scene at the end of this chapter, and in general, this whole episode contains very graphic material. Reader discretion - particularily for devout Christian readers - is _strongly _advised.

(And in addition, I've now upped the fanfic content rating to M, because I believe that with this chapter, the amount of language and violence has surpassed the original T rating.)

...

**Episode 73: Tsali Strikes Back**

_One week after the meeting with the Metarex leaders..._

As the Blue Typhoon floated in space, nobody aboard the ship even had a clue that the very same fox they had just encountered was hiding right under their noses.

The Ultimate Weapon hid directly in the main cargo hold of Tails's frigate. The lights were very dark, and the entire chamber was deserted; there was not a soul nearby.

Just as he had suspected.

Tsali mentally projected the camera feeds on his HUD; using the stolen codes from the Typhoon's power grid, he was able to tap into every camera feed in the ship. One of those feeds revealed his target; Cosmo the Seedrian, sleeping peacefully in her bed.

Oblivious to her impending fate. He grinned evilly to himself for a split second, and he took a step forward.

Not any sooner did he take a single step forward that he felt a hand land on his shoulder from behind his back. The black fox nearly jumped in surprise as he spun around.

He let out a sigh of relief as he saw who it was; it was the all-too-familiar apparition of his deceased sister. She was staring at him sadly, just like she always did in his random hallucinations

"... _Now _what do you want, Limit? I'm in the middle of something." Tsali spoke to the ghostly figure without any twinge of emotion or fear. He knew all too well that it wasn't real, but he decided to play along for the hell of it.

The young ghost sighed sadly. _"You still don't get it, do you?"_

"Nope, and I don't care. So don't even try." Tsali callously refuted.

_"JUST LISTEN TO ME FOR ONCE, TSALI!" _She suddenly cried out; even Tsali was surprised at this sudden burst of emotion, but he didn't show it.

"... Okay, okay, just spill it out already." Tsali replied.

_"You don't have to do this! This death and destruction is pointless! You have been living a lie! Maledict is the real one who destroyed you!"_

"... O Rly?" Tsali gave her his legendary stare. "If he did, then why did he offer to help me?"

_"Because he tricked you into believing that the Seedrians were behind everything! The Devil is behind this entire war! When will you ever understand that?"_ The ghost lectured in exasperation.

Tsali turned his head around, just to see if anyone was nearby. Of course, nobody was around at this point. However, when he turned his gaze back towards his sister, he was surprised to find only a box of cargo and no Limit; her ghost had vanished.

Tsali's mood was cut short by the sound of the entrance hatch opening. Thinking fast, as he was famous for doing, the fox dived behind a pile of crates, not making even a tint of noise with his cat-like landing.

The fox peeked his head over the crates as Sonic and Knuckles came waltzing in. They were babbling some retarded stuff to each other; Tsali honestly didn't care what they were saying.

He held his breath until, after a few minutes, the two heroes left the cargo hold and closed the door behind them. The Ultimate Weapon once again leaped out of the pile of crates, and once again landed with total silence.

Now, all he had to do was wait until the perfect moment.

"By the end of this day, Cosmo the Seedrian shall meet her end."

...

In the bridge of the Blue Typhoon, Miles "Tails" Prower and Chris Thorndyke were working on the ship's electronics.

With a yawn, Chris broke the silence over the bridge. "Hey Tails, think it's time for a little break?"

"Well, I still have to repair the security system. But you can go if you want." Tails replied.

"Don't you want help?" Chris asked.

"Nah, it's alright. It won't take long to finish, I'm almost done. Hopefully, getting this working will allow us to rest up; since Tsali isn't nearby, we should be safe."

"Man, I hope you're right." Chris stood up and began walking towards the exit.

"Yeah, tell me about it. I hope so too." Tails smiled at his good friend.

...

As Chris walked around the corner of the T-intersection towards his room, he didn't notice the two cobalt-blue eyes of Tsali glaring at him from the shadows of a nearby storage closet.

The Ultimate Weapon slipped his gun out of his tail fur for a few seconds, and checked to make sure that it was working properly and that its bullets would not malfunction.

For this assassination, Tsali had prepared himself adequetly; to make sure his gun could easily hit someone as fast as Sonic or Shadow, just in case he was forced to fight the hedgehog. He had loaded his magnum with advanced hi-tech plasma bullets that flew faster than the speed of sound. Highly illegal and experimental, they could hit a target in speeds excess of 1,100 miles per hour.

Far faster than any living being, with the possible exception of Maledict himself, could dodge.

Seeing that Chris had gone to his room, Tsali grinned to himself. "Far too easy."

With the agility and gracefullness of a cat, Tsali opened the door and sprinted down the long hallway.

As he passed the next door, he came to a sudden stop, still completely undetected. He got close to the small window of the door and he quietly peered inside.

Through the dark room, he spotted his quarry; Cosmo the Seedrian was sleeping, silently and peacefully.

Once more, Tsali smiled to himself. "I hope you had a nice nap, 'cause it'll be the last one you'll ever have..."

Stepping up to the door, Tsali pressed a small button near where the handle would normally be. The door slid open for him quietly. Cosmo was still fast asleep, completely unaware of Tsali's presence.

That's when Tsali froze and hesitated for a short moment. Being a soldier at heart, Tsali knew that when things were going far too well, it was either a; a trap, or b; a nasty surprise.

Unbeknownst to him, at that moment, Tails finished up repairing the security system and pressed the small green activation button. Red flashed over every single corridor of the ship as the in-ship alarms began blaring loudly; the security systems had immediately detected the Ultimate Weapon.

_"**Shit!** We have an intruder on board! The signal is coming from Cosmo's room!"_ Tails announced over the loudspeaker.

Inside Cosmo's room, the young girl slowly opened her eyes thanks to the sounds and flashing of the alarms. And she almost jumped out of her bed by the sight of her number one enemy standing right above her, with nobody else in sight for support.

The Ultimate Weapon grinned evilly as he turned on the room light, revealing his features. He slowly unsheathed a beautiful sapphire knife that apparently was in his tail fur.

"Finally! After almost a decade, I have you right where I want you."

Cosmo was too shocked to do anything whatsoever; she simple tried to back away, with no avail, since her back was right up against the wall.

_**"COSMO!" **_Just as Tsali was about to deal the finishing move, Chris appeared in the doorway. Tsali looked over his shoulder in surprise at the new witness.

"You prick!" Tsali glared at Chris and yelled as he threw a fast Dark Chaos Spear right at the human's head. Before it hit, however, Sonic grabbed his hand and pulled him out of the way as the Spear harmlessly hit the wall.

Sonic then stepped in the doorway. "Hey Tsali, you mind finally telling us all what this whole thing is all about?"

"... Fuck you too." Tsali glared at him as well, before springing at him with his fist brandished. Sonic was prepared for the blow, however, and he grabbed Tsali's fist.

For a few seconds, the two of them didn't do anything; they simply stared at each other right in the eye.

"SONIC!" Tails yelled as he ran around the corner behind the blue hedgehog.

"Tails! Grab Cosmo and get outta here, NOW!" Sonic called back to him as Cosmo stepped through the doorway in fright.

"C'mon!" Tails grabbed his lover's hand and ran out of sight, the blast doors closing behind them.

As Sonic looked back towards Tsali, he noticed that the black fox was smiling.

Before even the fastest thing alive could react or dodge, Tsali plunged his blade into Sonic's side. "AURGH!" Sonic cried out as he fell to the floor in extreme pain. Blood slowly began seeping out of the wound as his eyes dilated.

The Ultimate Weapon gave Sonic a quick grin before preparing to chase after his quarry. Preparing to run as fast as he could, he launched a Dark Chaos Spear at the blast door, demolishing it in a cloud of smoke.

With that, he sprinted as hard as he could as his Speed Booster module kicked into gear. There were more blast doors in front of him; however, Tsali's sheer velocity was so massive that he literally crashed right through the metal as he ran, leaving imprints of his outline on all of them.

As he ran, he mentally opened up his map of the ship and tapped into his visual feed of the ship using the Typhoon's own cameras; Tails and Cosmo were still running, and apparently, had gotten very far ahead of him.

...

Knuckles sprinted through the coridors of the Typhoon while contacting Cream and Amy.

"What the hell is going on?" Knuckles shouted into his wrist communicator.

"I found Sonic! He got stabbed by Tsali. We were able to patch up the wound and heal it, so he'll be okay." Cream informed him. She was in the medical bay of the Typhoon, with Sonic on a bed behind her. There was a large, bloodied bandage on his side as well.

"So Tsali IS here! I have to rescue Tails and Cosmo!" Knuckles spoke. Amy suddenly appeared on the screen, pushing Cream aside.

"No! We have to stop Tsali. If he isn't stopped, none of us will be safe. I'm gonna go find Tsali and kill him myself for hurting Sonic!" Amy told him.

She then reached forward, picking up some kind of heavy object. Even Knuckles was surprised by what it was; she held up a giant chrome metal version of her famous hammer. She then ran off to find Tsali as well.

"What the fuck... Amy! Stop! Don't try to fight him alone, it's suicide! Wait for me first!..." The echidna shouted after her in vain. But she was already gone.

Knuckles growled in frusturation as he turned off his communicator on the run in his rescue mission.

...

As Tsali checked up on his quarry and her location during his marathon sprint, he also mentally linked up with the on-ship intercom through the ship's data network.

"You can't hide from me, Seedrian! Stop running and face your death with dignity!" Tsali shouted. Thanks to his link, his words had been relayed over the entire intercom system; everyone on the ship, including Tails and Cosmo, heard him.

All of a sudden, he heard a noise coming from somewhere near him, temporarily distracting him; a moment later, he suddenly noticed that Tails and Cosmo had disappeared from his feed.

Tsali rotated through all of the cameras on the Typhoon; there was no sign of either Cosmo or Tails.

"Goddamnit..." Tsali cursed at his own inattentiveness.

All of a sudden, from a few yards in front of him, a large puff of smoke came as a nearby door imploded and crumpled. Of course, over its remains stood none other than Amy Rose, armed with a giant metal Piko-Piko Hammer.

"Yo, whatsup. Didn't I shoot you only a few days ago?" Tsali greeted blankly, staring at her new weapon.

"Tsali, you motherfucker! I will KILL you for what you did to Sonic!" Amy screamed as she bum-rushed him with her melee weapon of mass destruction.

Just as she swung at his head, Tsali teleported out of her path, reappearing in a blue flash right behind her.

However, Amy had seen him do this trick before; as such, she spun around with her hammer outstretched, hitting Tsali right in the head. There was a loud clank as the metal of her hammer hit Tsali's metal skin. The fox didn't react or even move a muscle.

Insead, in an unexpected move, he drew his knife and, taking a single step towards her, slashed at her face. Amy blocked the attack with her hammer. She then took a step to the left as Tsali attempted to lunge at her abdomen, also dodging that blow.

Before she could attack again, Tsali teleported and appeared mere inches away from her face. She felt his gloved robotic hand instantly grab her throat, holding her up and beginning to crush her windpipe.

"... Maybe this will show you the meaning of pain!" Tsali glared at her coldly. Taking his knife, he raised it up.

Within the moment, a lance of pain almost worse than her recent gunshot wound flared in her upper chest as the fox plunged his blade into her flesh. She gasped and screamed loudly as the pain began to overwhelm all of her senses.

Tsali was all of a sudden knocked away by the appearence of Knuckles, who punched him in the side of the head with his Shovel Claws so hard that it caused Tsali to let go, wrenching his knife out of her chest in the act.

Amy, feeling her feet back on the ground also staggered backward clutching her serious wound. She felt blood stain her gloves and her dress; the second time in only a week that she had gotten bloodstains on her clothes.

She barely saw Tsali take a few steps back from the newly-arrived Knuckles, just before his sprinted away almost as fast as Sonic.

"Shit..." Knuckles swore at the fox. He then turned, facing Amy.

"Amy, don't move! I gotta heal you." Knuckles said, putting one of his huge hands on her shoulder and the other one over her chest wound. Though she normally would have slapped him in the face for touching that sensitive part of her female body, she knew it was for her well-being and not out of pervertedness, so that was okay by her.

"CHAOS REGENERATION!" The hand of Knuckles began glowing a bright-green. Amy felt her stab wound seal itself up, and she felt the sliced blood vessels reconnect and heal. She let out a quick sigh of relief.

"Thank you so much, Knuckles. I really owe you one." Amy thanked him graciously.

"It's okay. That's exactly why I told you not to fight Tsali alone. C'mon, we have to find him fast, before he gets too far ahead!" Knuckles shouted, and both of them went off in pursuit.

...

Tails and Cosmo, meanwhile, were crawling inside one of the dark ventilation ducts inside the Typhoon's fore structure. They were both heading towards the hanger, so that both of them could escape off the Typhoon until Tsali was gone.

At first, nwither of them spoke as they shuffled through, the occaisional beams of light from the hallway below them illuminating their faces.

However, Cosmo eventually broke their mutual silence.

"You know, I've been wondering; why IS Tsali against me?" Cosmo asked Tails.

"I dunno myself, Cosmo. He has never even hinted as to why he has such a beef with you. But something is telling me that Maledict simply instilled his own hatred of your kind into him. That completely dehumanized him, turning him literally into a mindless killing machine." The fox theorized.

"I don't think he's mindless, Tails. If he was, he wouldn't have been hunting me down for so long." Cosmo commented.

"That may be true. Unfortunately, that doesn't seem to matter now. Either way, Tsali won't give up until he dies or he manages to kill all of us." Tails, just as another light beam came down on his head, paused suddenly in his tracks for a moment.

"... But... I dont want you to worry, Cosmo. I promise that everything will be alright." Tails began. "Because if Tsali would ever try to hurt you..."

He looked back at Cosmo, his face almost shining in the light beam to her. He suddenly smiled.

"... He'll have to kill ME, first!"

...

A few minutes later, Tails and Cosmo sprinted towards the parked Tornado 5, jumping into the open cockpit. Tails strapped himself in and prepared the takeoff procedure.

"We're almost out. Don't worry, we'll be okay." Tails called back to the young girl, who smiled kindly in reply.

But, of course, his promise was not heeded; the moment he finished his sentance, the hanger door exploded in a bright ball of blue flame and crumbled into dust, with the form of Tsali appearing in the smoke and the rubble.

For a few seconds, Tsali and Tails simply faced each other, neither of them doing anything.

"Ah, there you are, Miles. Now is the moment of truth. Will you give Cosmo to me, or will I have to kill you, too?" Tsali declared.

"Cosmo never did anything to you! Why do you want to kill her?" Tails asked, preparing the weapons on his plane.

"Yes, she _did_! She is the one who destroyed my entire life, and now, she will pay, just like her whole fucking species did! You cannot deny me my revenge forever!" Tsali pointed angrily at them. Cosmo cowered in her seat behind Tails.

"No! You will not touch her!" Tails bravely resisted.

"... Don't be a fucking dildo. Give her up now, or else get your ass down here and fight me yourself! Or will I have to jump up onto that plane of yours and do it FOR you?" Tsali stubbornly kept up his verbal attack.

Tails didn't respond, but instead, the Tornado 5 transformed into its walker form, it weapons charging up as they targetted the Ultimate Weapon. In complete brazen confidence, Tsali strolled forward towards the walker.

"Back off, Tsali!" Tails warned.

However, Tsali did not retaliate; he simply stared at them and smiled, preparing a Chaos attack in his hand. "Even if you are the Chosen One, I am the Ultimate Weapon!"

Taking the oppertunity to strike before Tsali could, Tails instantly fired all of his weapons at the fox. Numerous missiles and lasers fired from all over the plane and hit Tsali; none of them even scratched him as a blue shield of Chaos Energy appeared around his body.

Tsali threw his Chaos Spear directly at the leg of Tails's walker. The resulting blast amputated the leg and caused the walker to list on one side as it went forward out of control.

Though Tsali didn't see it, Tails was able to open up the cockpit and get Cosmo out with him before the plane sped right towards Tsali, who jumped out of the way as it crashed into the wall and exploded.

As the sprinklers turned on and soaked the fox, Tsali recovered from his dodge just in time to see Tails and Cosmo sprint out the door on the opposite side of the room.

"How in hell..." Tsali muttered to himself as he kept on the pursuit.

...

Tsali pursued his quarry into the next room; as it turned out, it was actually a gigantic reactor shaft leading up the back of the ship. And sure enough, as he looked up, he saw Tails flying upwards with Cosmo in his arms.

The Ultimate Weapon activated his hover shoes and blasted upwards; unfortunately, as he went up, he crossed an invisible detection laser.

Immediately, all of the powerful defense turrets activated along the walls of the shaft and began firing wildly at Tsali during his upward flight. However, Tsali was much too quick and agile for their targeting systems, so they had very little impact on his goal.

Just as he began nearing the top, he noticed something else; not only had Tails and Cosmo suddenly vanished from nowhere, but the emergency blast door right above him had closed!

Not allowing himself time to consider otherwise, Tsali went into a split-second Spin Dash the moment he saw the giant door. With his speed and velocity, the door shattered and crumpled inward as Tsali penetrated into the corridor that his quarry were inside.

As he landed, the Ultimate Weapon looked up, Tails and Cosmo were standing only a few yards down the corridor.

"Aha! Caught you. You can't lose me that easily." Tsali exclaimed. But before he could do anything else, a sudden explosion from in-between him and his prey caught him off-guard.

Through this blast, the familiar form of Shadow appeared.

"Ah yes, the fake black hedgehog is here. Great." Tsali straightened as he saw Shadow. And, within about two seconds, coming out of the door behind Tails and Cosmo, Knuckles and Amy both appeared, running to the aid of their friends.

"Be careful, guys!" Tails said before rushing out of the room with Cosmo.

"Oh, look what you've all done now. You made me lose my lunch." Tsali spoke devilishly, though he tried his best to make it sound serious.

"Shut the fuck up, you insane psycho! I swore that you would pay for killing Molly, and now, I'm here to fufill that vow! Today, you will die!" Shadow prepared to fight...

That is, until Tsali took out his magnum from his tail fur and aimed it right at Shadow. The so-called Ultimate Lifeform froze in place at the sight of the gigantic handcannon pointing at him.

"You lose, hedgehog." Tsali pulled the trigger, and the gun went off.

Though he attempted to dodge with his speed, before even he could evade, Shadow was thrown back by the feeling of what felt like the Biolizard's massive tail hitting him with full force. In fact, he felt the bullet hit before he had even heard the sound of Tsali's handcannon firing.

Some blood splattered against the floor as Shadow looked down at his abdomen; there was a huge, bloody bullet hole, with mangled pieces of muscle also showing. Though he didn't see it himself, the bullet had actually gone right _through_ his back and hit the wall behind him.

However, Shadow was more surprised at this wound than he was in pain; after all, he normally could dodge bullets easily like Sonic could. The fact that this one had hit him so fast shocked him. And that's when he realized something; Tsali must have modified the magnum plasma rounds in his gun to fly much faster than normal. Otherwise, Shadow would have had time to dodge it.

"Oh my god, Shadow!" Amy ran to the side of the stricken hedgehog, leaving only Knuckles to resist the Ultimate Weapon. Shadow was interrupted from his surprised thinking about Tsali's new bullets by the extreme pain from the wound that began climbing over his body.

"Goddamnit, Tsali!" Knuckles yelled at him.

Tsali merely smiled at the echidna. "... Hey, didn't I shoot you too not long ago? I guess that bullet in your arm didn't fufill your masochistic pleasure enough. Allow me to oblige."

He immediately went into a Spin Dash, floating in midair, before darting forward and impacting the echidna, sending him flying into the hard metal wall.

Without going for another strike, Tsali instantly teleported out of the corridor to resume his hunt.

Knuckles quickly got up off the floor, and so did Shadow; he was still clutching his massive bullet wound, though Amy had apparently put her white henkerchef over it to stop the bleeding.

"We... We have to rescue Tails and Cosmo..." Shadow whispered, his voice becoming slightly hoarse. All three heroes sprinted after the dark fox.

...

Tails and Cosmo ran as fast as they could possibly go down the seemingly endless interior of the Blue Typhoon.

That is, until they were interrupted by the sudden appearance of a very large dead-end room. The two lovers slid to a halt in surprise as they looked out through the only thing in front of them; a huge glass dome with the starry expanse of space on the other side.

"A dead end!" Tails yelled needlessly.

Before either of them could try to find a way around, they were both stunned by the sudden sight of Tsali in the door they had just gone through. The black fox took out his knife, cleaning the small amount of blood still on it with his fur.

"Heheh, talk about epic fail... It's all over, Miles! You can't run forever from me forever. Now, accept your fate." Tsali said as he slowly approached.

"That's enough! **LET'S SETTLE THIS NOW, TSALI!"** Tails screamed, sprinting towards the Ultimate Weapon.

Always a bad idea, as it were. When Tails got close, Tsali ducked behind his back and give him a hard fist to the neck, throwing the kit into the wall.

Tsali once again began to advance towards the Seedrian. Until, to his surprise, Tails actually jumped onto his back from right behind him. Tails thrashed about as he tried to hurt Tsali, but of course, it was very difficult to hurt Tsali's metal physique.

Tsali promptly spun around and gave Tails a firm spin kick, this time in his kneecaps, sending him flying into the wall and collapsing from pain. There was a loud _crack _as some of the Chosen One's leg bones fractured and broke.

"TAILS!" Cosmo cried out in horror.

"About time..." Tsali muttered as he approached her for the third time.

And for the third time, Tsali felt Tails's gloved hands. This time, they were clamped on his ankle. Tails, bloodied and bruised, desperately held onto the Ultimate Weapon, dragging his shattered legs on the ground.

"I won't... let you... hurt her!" Tails stuttered through all of the extreme pain.

**"Shut. Up." **Tsali glared in frustration as he took out his silver magnum, aimed it at Tails's back, and let off a shot. The large-calibre bullet instantly ended Tails's thrashing as the young kit fell unconscious from shock and blood began slowly seeping over the floor.

The Ultimate Weapon held up his knife as he got up in Cosmo's face.

"Finally... After thirty years, my promise is fulfilled..." Tsali whispered.

But this time, just moments before he could give the killing blow, he saw a flash of white light along with a crystal blade, in his face. He staggered backwards in surprise at this sudden appearance by none other than...

_**"Trinity?"**_ Cosmo cried out in shock.

Trinity looked at her sadly over his shoulder.

"Cosmo... I know I sided with Tsali before, and I'm sure you know too. Please forgive me, and know that I love you." Trinity declared quietly. The Seedrian gasped in surprise as the prince turned to face the Ultimate Weapon.

"Trinity! You traitorous bastard! I saved your life, and **THIS **is how you show your gratitude?" Tsali screamed as he regained himself.

"I should never have joined you, Tsali. Today, you will pay for you crimes. I promise you that." Trinity readied his blades.

"... Fuck you!" Tsali, regaining his composure, raised his handgun and fired several times, until the clicking of his weapons signalled that he was out of ammo.

For a few moments, Trinity just stood there in silence. He slowly looked down at his stomach, chest, and torso, putting a hand to one of his wounds; he felt blood stain his glove.

As he raised his head to look at Tsali, the Ultimate Weapon suddenly saw not Trinity standing there in front of him, but the ghost of his sister. And her ghost also had the bloody bullet wounds; the same ones that _he_ had just made on Trinity's form.

_"Why, Tsali? Why?"_ The invisible archetype of Limit asked Tsali, who only stared blankly and gave no reply, though in reality, he had been shaken by this premonition of himself killing his own beloved younger sister.

The ghost then collapsed to the ground and vanished; at that exact same moment, Trinity also slumped to his knees and collapsed on the ground, his body twitching as blood began pooling from his numerous bullet wounds. His Light Emerald also clattered on the floor, its initial bright glow fading into a weak light.

Cosmo simply stood in stunned shock as the black fox threw his empty revolver to the ground.

"You're lucky I didn't bring more magnum rounds with me..." Tsali muttered, though Cosmo heard him.

"As for you... Now, Cosmo, before you suffer a fate far worse than death, I have one last question for you..." Tsali walked forward, kicking Trinity's limp body out of his path.

That kick was the final straw, Cosmo thought. Now, she wasn't scared of him. Now she was angry. She couldn't bear to just stand by and watch Tsali kill all of her friends, just like she had seen him kill her sisters. In a sudden move that even Tsali did not expect, Cosmo stepped forward, picked up Trinity's emerald, and prepared to defend herself.

"It doesn't matter if you kill me, Tsali, but I won't sit here and watch you kill my friends! I won't let you do to them what you did to my family!" Cosmo declared aggressively.

Tsali simply smiled. "Oh please. You don't even know how to use one of those, whereas I do."

"That's where you're wrong, Tsali." Cosmo said, extending the Emerald out. It began to glow slightly in her hand. "CHAOS VINE!"

Instantaneously, a large whip-like vine made from pure Chaos Energy appeared in front of her and swiped at Tsali,

**"WHAT IN HELL?" **Tsali yelled as he narrowly dodged the attack as the vine began fading from existence. "When did you learn how to use an Altus Emerald?"

"I didn't learn, Tsali. I simply did. I can use my inner emotions as a source of Chaos Energy, just like you can."

"I know about that. But I didn't think YOU of all people could do it." Tsali replied, now taking out his Dark Emerald. Secretly, however, the Ultimate Weapon was actually in distress. _This is completely insane... Cosmo the Seedrian can actually use Chaos Energy?_

He shrugged off his apprehension as he prepared his own Dark Chaos attack. "Oh well. At least I can have some real fun with you before I kill you."

"Why do you hate me so much, Tsali? Exactly what is the heinous crime I have committed that so merits the death penalty?" Cosmo challenged bravely.

"It's not necesarily what YOU have done, Cosmo. It really comes down to the promise I vowed when I destroyed your home planet."

"And what promise was that?"

"... That I would _never _end this death and destruction until my ultimate vegeance is complete." Tsali sardonically replied.

Before he could say another word, Amy, Shadow, and Knuckles charged into the room.

"We have you now, Tsali!" Amy challenged.

Knuckles held out his hand, which began to glow green. At first, Tsali didn't realize what he had just did.

That is, until he heard the _shing_ sound of two sharp knuckleduster blades extend near the side of his head. He slowly turned; Trinity, healed and well, had him in his sights. Then, Tsali noticed another thing; the various wounds that Tails suffered had healed themselves. His bones had fused back together and his spinal bullet wound was gone.

The Chosen One slowly got up, as if he had just been in hibernation. "What happened?" He groggily asked.

"... Hmph." Tsali's revolver suddenly flew off the ground right towards Tsali as if it was being psychically manipulated, and the black fox caught it gracefully. He hid it back inside his tail fur. Afterward, the same thing happened with his sapphire knife; Tsali also put that away and did not make a move.

"This has gone too far, Tsali. It's time to spill the beans and tell us why you are like this and what you are planning." Knuckles told him.

"... Will you people fucking stop asking that?" Tsali facepalmed.

"We'll stop asking when you finally tell us! Now why do you want Cosmo dead?" Amy replied.

The Ultimate Weapon sighed angrily; their constant questions were really beginning to annoy him, and if he had to tell them the answer, he was willing to spill his secrets just to make them shut up.

"Okay, okay! I'll tell you the story. It all began thirty years ago..." Tsali began to explain. However, he was cut off by what he heard to be a loud boom somewhere nearby on the ship with his super-strong ear vibrators.

"... Something's coming..." Tsali suddenly muttered, as if he had just realized something. He had suddenly been hit by a strong signal of Dark Chaos Energy nearby.

"Don't even start, Tsali! Tell us _now_, or else!" Shadow shouted at him.

"... No, really; something's coming towards us... And fast..." Tsali replied without looking at Shadow, a complete sense of sincerity and honesty in his voice.

"Do you seriously expect us to believe..." Amy began to say, before Tsali took a step forward.

**"GET DOWN!"**

Without warning, the door behind Amy and Shadow completely exploded as a flying blue blur swept past the two stunned hedgehogs, apparently aiming right for Tsali. It was moving so fast that nobody in the room could even tell who the entity was.

As if it was a slow-mo Matrix action scene, the mysterious blue being slammed into Tsali, sending him flying backwards like a rocket.

Directly _into _the glass behind him.

As Tsali's form shattered and broke through the window from the impact, the entire room became one large vacuum cleaner as the void of space attempted to suck everything in the room out into the blackness.

Knuckles, Amy, and Shadow managed to hang onto various things in the room. However, Cosmo was not so lucky, or as strong. In fact, within moments, her hands failed her; she slipped and was almost sucked into space.

At least, she would have if Tails had not stepped forward when he noticed her and held onto her hand, keeping her from being sucked away.

The automatic repair systems of the Typhoon came online; a large bubble of thick plastic that appeared from a small opening in the ceiling splattered on the massive crack and hardened instantly, sealing the glass and causing everyone to fall to the floor as the feeling of weight returned to their bodies.

"What the fuck just happened...?" Knuckles exclaimed as if he had just seen a ghost destroy an entire city.

"I don't know..." Trinity replied as best he could.

"But whatever the hell that was... It sure kicked his ass..." Shadow commented as he got up.

Tails got to his feet, helping his Seedrian lover up. He then looked and saw the wounds on Shadow's abdomen.

"Shadow! We gotta get you to the hospital ward." Tails said, and prepared to help the hedgehog.

"Don't bother." A mysterious, yet strangely-familiar voice came from the shattered pieces of the blast door. Everyone spun around in surprise, but they all knew who it was.

"Tephiroth!" Everyone exclaimed. Sure enough, standing right there was the Three-Winged Angel himself. "Again?" Amy added.

The tall three-tailed Angel fox extended his hand. "Chaos Regeneration!" Instantly, Shadow's wound healed itself in a light-blue glow.

"When did you get here?" Tails asked, glancing at him.

"... A few minutes ago, give or take. I was chasing Tsali and Dark Tails when..."

"Wait... Dark Tails?" Cosmo exclaimed, "Was he the..."

"Uhh... yes." Tephiroth explained, apparently just noticing the remains of the cracked glass. "Shit, they got away again."

"Why were you chasing them?" Shadow asked suspiciously.

"That is none of your concern, Demon experiment." Tephiroth replied rudely.

"What did you call me?"

"A Demon experiment; that's exactly what you are, after all. You were created by Black Doom, one of Maledict's kommanders, and on Maledict's orders too."

"But... I thought... Professor Gerald and Black Doom..." Shadow said. Tephiroth sighed, as if he was a teacher trying to lecture an unruly class.

"Maledict was just using Doom as a middleman between him and the late Robotnik. Eventually, Satan lost all faith in the project, so to cover it up, he engineered and began the ARK Incident by lying to the leaders of G.U.N that Gerald planned to destroy the Earth."

"... What?" Shadow commented.

"When the humans arrived, he had his kommandos secretly let all the other specimens on the station go free to cause chaos throughout the base; a top-secret mission designed both to assist GUN and to detriment any defensive efforts. He also deactivated all the security systems of the ARK as well, giving the humans easy passage. Afterward, Satan recalled Doom back to Hell for his obstenble 'success', and as soon as he returned, had him secretly tortured and executed... as far as I know for certain."

Shadow looked down to the floor, tring to comprehend this fact, until Tephiroth finished his explanation.

"Finally, I'm sure this will surprise you alot, Shadow," Tephiroth spoke, getting Shadow's attention, "But I want to show you something interesting."

He suddenly took out a tiny slip of paper, one that looked very old.

Shadow promptly grabbed it and looked at it. He quickly realized that it was totally written in Demonish, a language Shadow knew nothing of; he could tell it certainly was of Demon origin because there was a pentagram symbol stamped in the top-left corner. However, there were two words that he did recognize on the very bottom line; _Maria Robotnik_

"... What is this?" Shadow whispered, as if he knew already what it was, but didn't want to admit it.

Tephiroth gave Shadowe a smug smile, though Shadow was too involved in looking at the paper to notice.

"That, Shadow the Hedgehog, is an execution order written by Lord Maledict himself, a heavily modified English copy of which was secretly passed out to every G.U.N. soldier present on the ARK that day, ordering for Maria Robotnik to be shot on sight and describing her as, and I quote..."

Tephiroth took the paper from Shadow, and cleared his throat as he read, "... _'A traitor and a piece of human filth that must die for her abominable crimes'_. I also have another one back in my personal archives, that one written for Gerald Robotnik."

"Then... that means..." Shadow's eyes all of a sudden were possessed by sudden fury as Tephiroth nodded affirmatively. **"... Maria is dead because of Maledict!"**

"Uhh... Shadow?" Amy asked softly, though this didn't have any effect on Shadow's mindset.

"Precisely. Your human friend was all a part of a long, complicated political game between the Earth goverrnment and the Devil himself. One that, at least on Maledict's part, failed epicly." Tephiroth sardonically finished, in a quite aloof manner.

"Wait a second! How exactly do you know so much about this, Tephiroth?" Knuckles interrupted suspiciously.

"... I received a classified copy of the information years ago from my agents. It was originally written by Maledict himself, and it was one of the many Demon documents found in the ARK's database. Along with it, we found the billionth transcript of Satan's _Book of Kommandments, _several copies of battle orders, technical information on Project Shadow and the then-experimental Project Sonic..." The Angel replied bluntly.

"Wait, project... Project _Sonic_?" Knuckles asked questioningly, cutting the Three-Winged Angel off.

"Yes, echidna, Project Sonic." Tephiroth affirmed. Amy, Shadow, Cosmo, Trinity, and Tails all gave each other apprehensive looks.

"Huh? What is _that_?" Amy asked.

Tephiroth simply gave her an unusual look of questioning, before understanding them. "... Oh, so you obviously don't know Satan's little secret yet, huh? Well then... perhaps it's not time for you to find out yet."

Now, from the damaged door opening, the human form of Chris appeared right beside the tall three-tailed white kitsune, panting heavily from the amount of running he had just done. Tephiroth turned towards him in muffled surprise.

"... Guys!... We got a huge problem!..." The teenager panted.

"Hold on, Chris. What's wrong?" Cosmo ran over to him.

"... All of our Chaos Emeralds are gone! I put them in a sealed cargo container, and now, they've vanished!" Everyone except for Tephiroth gasped dramatically.

"Dark Tails has taken them." Tephiroth replied.

"And how do you know that?"

"Because I saw him phase through the container and absorb them."

"Where are they now?" Cosmo turned to the Three-Winged Angel, apparently believing him immediately.

"They are certainly nearby, I can sense them. You should use your Chaos Energy tracking device to find them. And I will let all of you figure out the rest." With that final cryptic statement, Tephiroth vanished in a sky-blue flash.

There was a short, silent pause.

"... Why does he always have to be so fucking _vague_?" Knuckles randomly asked, breaking the uncomfortable silence.

"There's no time. We have to find our Chaos Emeralds!" Shadow declared, teleporting out of the room.

"... _Again_." Tails, Amy, and Chris groaned simultaneously.

"What about Tsali? We're just gonna leave him to die and not find out what he's hiding?" Cosmo asked.

Everybody stared at her blankly as if they were a herd of cows staring at an incoming train. "Ummm... nevermind."

...

Lord Maledict briskly stepped down the dimly-lit corridor of an obscure interrogation area of the Tower of Babel, the main maximum-security prison of Hell, preparing to deal with one of the people he had most wanted to get rid of.

The Tower of Babel was one of the very few Demon buildings to be located on the surface; the entire city of Caronius itself was underground. Although it primarily served as an armory, a treasury, a public records office, an observatory, and the home of the Demon Crown Jewels, Babel was most famous as a horrific place of imprisonment and torture for evildoers and villians who failed to live up to the great expectations place onto them by the Devil.

Satan was promptly greeted by two Hell Knight Honor Guards, dressed in their ornate ruby armor. They also had large military patches on their shoulders and breastplates; an upside-down pentagram with a skelatal goat head, an indication of their membership in the elite 666th Caronian Legion.

Both guards prostrated themselves before his unholy presence.

"What is the medical status of our prisoners?" Maledict asked them. Neither of them moved, or dared to look up as his divine persona.

"Your former mechanical-genius friend is unharmed, except for a few cuts that he sustained trying to escape from us. The girl prisoner currently is still alive... barely. From our scans, she is currently suffering numerous third-degree burns, minor septicima, and massive loss of blood plasma... It would take quite awhile for me to list off all the conditions." One of them responded.

"That's okay. I need you two to activate the surveillance system and begin recording the... demonstration." The Devil said the last word with a twinge of danger in his voice.

"Yes, _ZIR_!" Both of them spoke simultaneously, and both of them jumped to their feet and ran off through the door behind Satan.

With that, Maledict approached the obsidian door of the interrogation room, which opened for him with a _hiss_. The door then closed behind him as he stepped inside. Unbeknownst to him, from the nearby security station, the two guards that Satan had just spoken to, followed directly Beelzebub and Astorath, came in, stealthily watching him with the cameras as they began recording the scene.

The small room was dimly lit, and the smell of blood clung to every wall and tile; the blood that had been shed in this very room. There was only one tiny window, overlooking the fiery expanse of Lake Gehenna, placed near the rear of the chamber.

Around the walls were the slowly-rotting bodies of villians of all alien races; their bodies had been largely ripped to pieces, or had been crushed, or had been nailed to the wall, or suffered some other fiendishly evil form of torture. Most of the gruesome "_dekorations_" (as Astorath sadistically called them) also had upside-down pentagrams branded somewhere on their intact body parts.

Most of the bodies were brutally familiar to those who recognized their names; among the victims were the bloodied and decayed corpses of Black Doom, Erazor Djinn, Gerald Robotnik, Merlina...

And that was all only in this room. Indeed, if I, Eric the Author, described every incompetent villian who had been locked up, killed, and tortured in the entire Tower, the resulting list would be longer than this entire fanficition.

There was a short female human figure near the back of the room, with a bright klieg light shining on her form. There was also a small table in front of her, with some half-eaten food. Finally, on the wall to Maledict's left, three prisoners were chained; two of them were short robots and one of them was a very fat chubby doctor.

The woman was singing a tune to herself, although her voice was a mere whisper;

_"Can you stay forevermore... Or are you gonna leave for me... No matter what it takes for me, I'll find you... Just to be with you one more time..."_

This same unlucky female prisoner was none other than Princess Elise III, the ruler of the tiny kingdom of Soleanna, a mere vassal of the Demons. She had caused the death of Solaris, and in the process, she had killed Iblis and Mephiles; now, she would also pay the price for killing Maledict's good friends, a similar price to what everyone else paid for high treason

The other prisoners were Dr. Ivo Robotnik and his two assistant robots Decoe and Becoe; they had been arrested by a squad of Kommandos sent to take them into confinement. Eggman was largely unharmed, although his clothes had rips in them, as if he had just been beaten up by a schoolyard bully.

"Hello, everybody." Maledict greeted cordially, "How you doing?"

Elise weakly held her head to look at him, ending her hoarse singing, and it was then that Satan noticed her condition.

Elise had been stripped completely naked, as bare of clothing as the day she was born. Her entire body - including her private parts - were covered with deep, bloody lacerations and open wounds, some of which had already become infected and had began swelling a deep purple color. She had been crucified to the wall in the back of the room, as several of Satan's guards whipped her mercilessly to the brink of death like an animal; blood dripped down her hands from the nails that had been driven right through her palms. As if that wasn't enough for the twisted enjoyment of her guards, branded onto her stomach and chest was a large upside-down pentagram burned into her flesh. Even now, it was obvious that she was clinging to life.

The Devil stepped in front of Elise and offered his hand in a handshake; a sarcastic gesture reminding her of his status as the most evil being in the entire Universe. Despite her weakness, she managed to give off a glare at him as she panted. Once again, Robotnik said nothing.

Maledict merely smiled at the girl. "Do you know who I am?"

"... Lord Maledict." Elise whispered, her voice unwavering despite her condition.

"Korrect." Satan affirmed. "I am the overlord of the Demons, and I was the best friend of Iblis and Mephiles. You... _do _remember them, don't you?"

"... Yeah, yeah, I remember." She replied.

"Good. Then that means you know all too well why I am here today. But I need to ask you; do you now why YOU are here?"

"Yes, Satan," Elise whispered in reply. "I am here because I have betrayed the almighty Demon Empire, and I have done evil before Your Unholy Name." Elise was merely stating what she had been forced to promise to say by her guards.

"A very wise reply, human slimeball." The Devil spoke the last part of his sentance with yet another twinge of danger in his voice. "Anyway, you know what I want, right? Where is it?"

"... But its right over there, Maledict!" Eggman suddenly interrupted.

Maledict immediately turned sharply towards the doc. **"I don't remember asking you a goddamn thing!" **He yelled at the top of his lungs. Robotnik slowly cowered like a dog that had just been chastised for bad behavior.

Satan then regained his composure as he turned back towards Elise. "... You were saying?"

Elise nodded to her left, towards a small data disk with the Soleanna Royal Family symbol on it. "... It's right over there."

"Thank you. But now, I must deal with the real problem. And don't even_ try _to talk your way out of this." Maledict picked up the disk in his six-fingered hand.

"Wait, Maledict!" Elise tried to assure, "I just want you to know... that I am so sorry that things got so fucked up between me and your friends Iblis and Mephiles. I got involved into this whole mess with the best intentions, I swear..."

Before she could finish, Maledict suddenly extended his free hand towards the wall and fired a single high-powered Chaos Spear, leaving a small hole in the wall. Elise promptly fell tomb-silent.

"Oh, I'm sorry, did I break your concentration? I didn't mean to do that." The Devil sarcastically said, though his face appeared blank. "Please continue. You were saying something about... best intentions?" Elise did not reply; she simply stared at him.

"Well, what's the matter?" Maledict asked as he paced in front of her like a lion in a cage. "... Oh, you were finished? Well then... allow me to retort."

The Devil then leaned in slightly, until his face was only a few inches from hers. "What does Sonic the Hedgehog look like?"

"... What?" Elise whispered.

Instantly, in a fit of anger, Maledict grabbed the table and overturned it ferociously, its contents clanging to the metal floor.

**"What planet are you from?"** He asked, his evil features becoming suddenly furious.

"... What?"

**"'What' aint no planet I ever heard of! Do they speak Basic on 'What'?"** He asked again, his voice rising another notch as he came slightly closer to her.

"What?"

Elise immediately felt Maledict's armoured reptilian leg slam-kick her exposed vagina. The young princess screamed in agony as she felt her pubic bones shatter from the blow; it was so loud that even Eggman could easily hear the sound of her bones breaking.

She also felt something else, something much worse; Elise realized that Maledict had actually kicked her so hard in her female part that her hymen-barrier had been completely shredded, and her virginal innocence forever lost.

**_"BASIC MOTHERFUCKER, DO YOU SPEAK IT?"_ **Maledict screamed in uncontrolled rage, completely losing his usually-dormant temper. He was actually beginning to foam at the mouth slightly like some sort of rabid animal.

Eggman, Becoe, and Decoe gave terrified glances at each other; they had never seen such malice and hatred in their lives, even from the Devil himself. After all, Satan was normally calm and rather benevolent most of the time.

"Yes!" Elise answered as quickly as she could.

"So, you do know what I'm saying?"

"Yes!" She desperately nodded.

"Okay then! Now, describe what Sonic the Hedgehog looks like!" Satan once again ordered.

"... What, I..." Elise tried to say. Now, Maledict extended one of his hands at her forehead.

**"Say 'what' again! _SAY 'WHAT' AGAIN!"_** He shouted, **"I dare you, I _double_ dare you, motherfucker! Say 'what' one more goddamn time!"**

"... He's blue..." Elise stuttered.

**_"Go on!"_**

"... He's short ..." She tried to continue.

"... Does he look like a bitch?" Maledict asked.

"What?" Elise accidently answered, without thinking about what the Devil had warned her about beforehand.

Instantly, Maledict 's hand shone a bright red as he unleashed one of his most devastating, gruesome, and powerful Chaos attacks; Chaos Slash. It was an extremely rare attack; it essentially was where invisible Chaos power was psychically used to slice through skin, easily mutilating people into bloody pieces without any physical effort. It could also be used on inainimate objects with terrifying effect.

The invisible Chaos attack instantly sliced through her entire arm, causing her amputated limb to fall of the floor with blood pouring out of it, along with causing some blood to splash on the wall. Elise let out a deathly cry of pain as the bloody stump that was once her arm hanged limply, the bloodied bone and muscle completely visible. On the wall, Eggman and his robots gasped in horror.

**_"DOES HE LOOK... LIKE... A BITCH?"_** Satan furiously repeated.

_"NO!"_ She cried through her pain.

"Then why did you fuck him like one?" He asked.

"No I didn't!" Elise retorted.

"Yes you did! Yes, you DID, Elise! You fucked Sonic and his friends in the ass! And because you fucked them, not just one, but TWO of my best friends are dead... All because of YOU!" The Devil implicated her ferociously, pointing one of his shriveled fingers at her.

"NO! I didn't do anything, and you know it, Satan!" Elise suddenly lashed out, her will apparently unshaken despite her condition.

His mouth contorted into a quick smile before he stepped back in front of Elise. It was then that Robotnik noticed a red ball of energy in his left hand.

"Have you... ever read my _Book of Kommandments_, Elise? Or, at the very least, have you read the Angel rip-off version of my musings called _The Bible_?" Maledict asked smugly, like he was about to make a point in a long-winded arguement.

"... O-Only once. I read the Bible first, and then I read the original Kommandments." Elise carefully replied, paying more attention to her severed arm than to the Evil One.

"Well, I'm not sure if you would recognize this, but there is a famous passage from my book. This very verse was originally transcribed into the first half of the Bible, although it was later erased from all transcripts."

There was a short, silent pause.

"... _The Book of Maledict_, Chapter 25, Verse 66." Maledict then began pacing once again, keeping the energy ball in his hand behind his back as he began his quote.

_"... 'The path of the righteous is beset upon all sides by the inequities of the selfishness and the tyranny of evil. But I, Lord Maledict, say: Blessed is the ruler, who in the name of charity and goodwill, shepherds the weak and the powerless through the valley of darkness. For he is truly his peoples' keeper, and the finder of lost children."_

He began walking towards the door, as if he was about to leave, but stopped just short of the exit before slowly turning around.

_"... And I shall strike down upon thee with fiery vengeance and unholy anger, upon those who attempt to poison and kill my people!"_

He raised his hand up, revealing the sphere of Chaos Energy that he still had in his hand. Maledict aimed it straight at Elise's head.

_"And you will know, that my name is the Devil... When I lay my unholy wrath upon thee!'"_

However, before he unleashed his coup de grace, Elise suddenly shut her eyes and raised her head high to the ceiling, as if she was chanting a holy song.

_"Father! Into Your hands, I commend my spirit!" _She cried out loudly in Demonish, as if she was in a trance. Eggman in particular had no idea that Elise knew how to speak Demonish, though he considered the possibility that she had learned some words on her own.

Within that very instant, her entire body, from her head down to her private lower area, was vertically sliced in half; her blood and innards poured out all over, her body turning into a pile of gore. Her sliced intestines coiled themselves on the metal floor like whipped cream; her kidneys and liver, followed by her sliced stomach and lungs, soon followed. Finally, her still-beating heart lay on top of the mountain of gore; it was still intact, though it was spouting blood. One of the halves of her skin fell to the floor, now without any bodily support; the other, still nailed to the wall, simply hanged there loosely. Her various bones, still slicked bright-red with blood, lay piled around the grusome puddle that she had turned into. Her remains sizzled and smoked, as if they had just been on fire.

For a few second, Maledict simply stood silently, blankly staring at the remains of the former princess and listening to the steady sound of fresh blood dripping onto the floor, and the sound of flesh burning. He had no emotion in his eyes nor his facial expression whatsoever.

After a short, virtually-silent pause, the Devil took a few steps towards the remains and delicately took Elise's bloody heart in his shriveled six-fingered hand. He stared at it for a few moments, as if he was feeling some regret for what he had just done.

"...Chapter 13, Verses 62-63;_ 'Thou shalt have no heathen practices before me. For I, Lord Maledict, am a jealous God, an unholy Deity. Such things, like humans and Angels, are abominations before my unholy sight. All assured, my unholy wrath shall flare up against you in a tempest of hellfire, and you will be destroyed. And your children shall become orphans, and your wives, widows.'_" Maledict quietly muttered another of his quotes from the_ Kommandments_ to himself, instantly justifying his own actions before his own soul as far as he even cared. However, deep in his heart, he secretly prayed for her, and wished that she gained new everlasting life.

The human heart promptly slipped out of his hand, sloshing back on the mound of flesh and gore with a sickening _splat_.

He promptly turned around as if nothing happened, wiping his hand off on his cloak. Eggman vomited at the sight of his former hostage, completely sickened to the stomach by the pile of bloodied organs only a few meters in front of him that was once a living human being.

To Satan's surprise, the two people who instantly greeted him were Beelzebub and Astorath, who had dashed into the room just moments before Maledict killed Elise. Both of them stared at him and occasionally glanced at the gruesome mess in front of them.

"... Did you guys get all that?" Maledict asked.

Astorath breathlessly pointed to a small disk still spinning in a security console near the door, still recording, even though nothing was happening.

"Good. Put it in the Vault on Planet Seedrius. When Sonic gets there and sees this, I hope that I get my message across. Oh, and have somebody clean this room up, too."

"Ummm... Dude?" Beelzebub quietly interrupted.

"Yeah?"

"... Umm... Don't you think that was a little too... harsh? I mean, I'm not sure if you needed to... tear her apart like that..." Beelzebub said slowly.

Quite honestly, Maledict was very surprised by this concern; Beelzebub would be the last person he would expect to think like that, since he loved raping underage girls and impaling people with his giant stinger.

"... You're just sad that you didn't get the chance to cum in her ass." Maledict replied, blunt as always.

"Well... yes, that's true, but..."

"... But _you _cummed in Amy's ass last night." Astorath insulted Satan.

The Devil smiled cheekily. "... Shut up, Astorath!" All three demonic leaders began laughing in oddly good spirits.

Satan then stopped laughing and spoke seriously. "It doesn't matter now. She killed Solaris; she obviously knew all too well what would eventually happen. I personally think that Iblis and Mephiles now have been justly avenged, korrect?"

"_Ja_, I agree." Astorath concurred.

"I still think it's a little too harsh." The Lord of Flies stayed stubborn.

"Remember this, komrade; I could have done so much _worse _to her than I did. Hell, I could've ripped out her uterus and slowly beat her to death with it. By comparison, what I did was the most merciful and compassionate thing to do. Plus, after all, she DID deserve it." Satan explained his actions.

"I... I guess you're right. Nevermind then. It is all too true that she got what was coming to her." Beelzebub replied.

"Great. Let's get going. We _really _need to get a translation of this stanza of the Legend of Disaster before we begin the finale of this conflict..." Maledict said, glancing at Elise's disk in his hand.

Meanwhile, on the wall, Eggman had suffered a slight nervous breakdown; he was panting in fear to himself.

"Hey, isn't that your old friend Robotnik?" Beelzebub asked, at first not recognizing the doctor.

"Yep."

"... Better tell him to shut de fuck up, he's really starting to get on my nerves." Astorath spoke.

"Eggman?... Eggman?..." Maledict tried to call him. However, the doctor didn't stop. "... ROBOTNIK!" The Devil shouted loudly for the third time. This time, Eggman listened to him, promptly staring.

"I'd knock that shit off if I was you." Satan suggested, and the mechanical genius got the hint. "Anyway, I will deal with all of you later, because I have a Prophecy to translate."

Maledict quickly exited, leaving only Robotnik, his robots, Beelzebub, Astorath, and the gory mess that once was Princess Elise III in the torture chamber.

Beelzebub quickly followed his unholy lord out the door. However, Astorath stayed behind for a few moments, staring at the reamins of Elise.

"Hey dude, you comin'?" Astorath was shaken out of his staring fit by the voice of Beelzebub.

"Ja, I'm coming, sorry about dat." Astorath hurriedly replied, as if he was trying to hide his inner emotions.

As the Devil exited, without his two lackeys noticing, he secretly took out one of his hidden microphones that was directly connected to his ship and his personal fleet.

"Admiral D'Arnazhee! Commence Operation Moloch immediately. We must make our finishing moves while the initiative is back in our hands."

_"By your will, Lord."_

...

I'm going to make this very clear right now; **_I AM NOT AN ELISE HATER IN ANY WAY. _**

That scene wasn't meant to bash her; it's merely a fictional sequence and it doesn't reflect my own opinions. I was planning a scene like it for a long time, and had almost always intended it to be a part of this fanfiction. In fact, if anything, is was actually _defending _her dignity; read her personification over again if you don't understand my point.

The whole point of the scene was simply to show Maledict's response to her actions and her punishment for killing his friends Iblis and Mephiles; in retrospect, it should be pretty obvious why he did it, considering the Devil's very strong sense of justice.

Anyway... please review nicely, and don't yell at me if you still for some reason think I'm just another Elise hater (despite what I said above).


	22. Episode 74: The Mystery Revealed

Merry Christmas, everybody!

As my Christmas present to you, here is the epic climax of Dark Chaos.

...

**Episode 74: The Mystery Revealed**

Sonic and all of his friends were standing on the bridge of the Blue Typhoon, overlooking the bizarre scenery that awaited them on the surface on this new planet to which they had tracked their stolen stash of Chaos Emeralds.

All in all, the only thing any of them could see was devastation; seas of petrified tree trunks, scorched ground, dried-up rivers, crumbled buildings. Skeletons of humanoids, animals, birds, and fish lay strewn everywhere like so many rocks. The bright sun shone off the barren glassified ground like a light put onto a piece of crystal. Bubbling radioactive puddles of brackish dirty water were scattered about around the various tree trunks.

"Our scanners has tracked our Chaos Emeralds to this planet, most of which are in a close radius to our ship." Chris reported, ignoring the landscape and focusing on the task of reclaiming the Emeralds.

"What the... what the hell happened here?" Sonic wondered out loud

"Looks like a nuclear war or something like that blew through this place..." Knuckles suggested.

"Well, the only thing we can do is step outside and find those Emeralds. And who knows; maybe on our way, we could find out what happened here." Amy spoke.

"Right," Tails jumped out of his seat. "Let's split up into groups to find our Chaos Emeralds. Chris, you stay here with the ship. Cosmo, you come with me and we'll go get ones closest to the Typhoon. Sonic and Knuckles; take the X-Tornado and search out the ones farthest from the ship. Finally, Amy and Cream; you two go and see if you can find any information about this planet."

"Got it, Tails." Amy gave him a thumb-up and ran out of the bridge with Cream close behind. Sonic and Knuckles, exited the room next, until only Chris, Tails and Cosmo were left.

"Cosmo, come with me. Let's get going." Tails suggested. Cosmo nodded in agreement, and the two finally exited the room.

Though neither of them noticed, Chris sighed slightly as he saw the two lovers leave the bridge; their relationship reminded him of his own feelings for his handicapped lifelong friend Helen back on Earth.

...

Tails and Cosmo strolled quietly into the bleak wasteland outside the Typhoon as they began their search; they had to dodge the occasional radioactive ponds and crawl over shattered trees and piles of rotting bleached bones.

"... This planet looks like it must have been a beautiful place once..." Cosmo commented on the way, looking around at her surroundings.

"True. I'm getting rather curious as to what happened here. Despite the radiation, there is no sign of Dark Chaos Energy, so my fake dark look-a-like or Tsali certainly could not have done this." Tails replied as they walked. "The only other things I can think of that give radiation are nuclear warheads..."

"A nuclear... war?" Cosmo suddenly got an idea.

"Perhaps..." Tails suddenly checked his scanner for the Emerald location.

Cosmo pointed without warning at the near-by horizen. "Hey, look!"

Tails, now distracted from looking at the Emerald, tried to see what Cosmo had seen; he suddenly noticed a small pall of black smoke rising from under the lifeless tree canopy.

"Hey, hold on! That's where the Emerald signal is coming from!" The kit cross-referenced the Emerald signal with his portable holo-map. "C'mon!"

The two young anthromorphs sprinted towards the smoke, weaving their way through the poisonous puddles and devastated plant canopy. Eventually, after a few minutes, they finally came upon the site.

In he small clearing was a smoking crater with small blue-coloured flames dancing around it. And on the lip of the crater was the Chaos Emerald that our heroes had been searching for.

However, it was positioned dangerously close to the very being who had just tried to kill Tails and Cosmo. The young Seedrian gasped as she realized who the figure lying in the crater was.

At the center of the crater lay the apparently unconcious form of Tsali Z'Charon, lying facedown in the dust. Small parts of his fur had been singed off, revealing the bright-chromium metal that formed his muscles.

"That's weird... Is Tsali out for it?" Tails wondered out loud again.

Cosmo took a few steps forward and picked up the Chaos Emerald in her hand. However, she then took a few steps until she was right next to Tsali's body.

"Cosmo, wait!" Tails called out, but to no avail. The Seedrian crouched down as she studied the Ultimate Weapon's form curiously.

Just as she reached out her hand to feel his skin, a sudden sound nearly scared her to death; a medium-pitched hum, similar to a computer turning on, audited from Tsali's head. Cosmo hurriedly backed away as the sound became slightly louder and more pronounced. A small electrical charge had begun spreading over Tsali's skin, giving him a small yellow glow.

One of Tsali's arms suddenly moved, the hand latching onto the dust. Then, the other arm followed suit. His legs tucked themselves under, and finally, the black kitsune slowly raised himself from his deactivation mode.

Cosmo gasped and cowered behind Tails as Tsali's form had dramatically lifted itself off the ground. However, the fox's head still hanged limply, as if his whole body was turned on, but his head still wasn't working.

Of course, all guesses were dispelled when Tsali's head shot upwards and his eyes began to glow a bright-blue. Large lines of data codes and Demonish lettering began scrolling over his eyes as they began flashing various colors, until they finally settled on the default blue.

Tsali's head jerked up, and he suddenly moaned as he held his head in his hands. "Uggggh... What happened? Where am I?" The Ultimate Weapon asked woozily, trying to comprehend his surroundings.

"We thought that _you_ could tell _us_." Tails suddenly spoke up, immediately getting Tsali's attention.

The black fox gave him an annoyed look. "What do you two lovebirds..." However, the Ultimate Weapon cut off mid-sentence as he looked around some more and suddenly began to realize where he was.

"Is this really..." Tsali then took out what appeared to be a small green plastic card from his tail fur and stared at it in surprise. "... Of course! Now I know where I am."

"Huh?" Cosmo spoke up, drawing Tsali's attention to her.

"Cosmo! You wanted to find out the truth about me and your family, right?" Tsali asked her, catching her off guard.

"... Y-Yes, I did."

Tsali suddenly gave her a small smile. "Follow me. I know a place near here that has all of the answers you have been looking for. This way."

The black fox sprinted off west through the barren landscape. Cosmo began to follow him before she was stopped by Tails. "Cosmo, don't! It's certainly a trap! If you go along, he'll kill you for sure!"

Cosmo gently pushed him away, determination in his eyes. "Sorry Tails, but this may be my only chance to find out the truth." She then ran after Tsali, the followed by Tails.

...

Cosmo finally caught up to Tsali Z'Charon, who was standing in the entryway of what appeared to be a large ruined building, which he then entered. Cosmo and Tails also went into this new building with their former nemesis.

The walls of the structure were crumbling and partially decayed; moss appeared over some of the twisted metal and concrete. Rubble and debris covered the entire floor, along with what appeared to be very old rusting tools.

"... What is this place?" Cosmo asked as she followed Tsali into the main room.

The main chamber was not much at this point; the roof of the primary lab had been destroyed. Desks, lab beds, test tubes, and other scientific tools were strewn about the rubble everywhere. Shattered monitors and snapped electrical wires hung limply from the rotting walls.

Tsali walked towards on of the drawers that was laying on a partially-cracked table.

"I know it's around here somewhere..." Opening up the top drawer, he looked around for a few seconds until he reached in and pulled out what appeared to be a small disk covered with dust.

"Here we are!" Tsali held up the old disk to show our heroes. It had what Cosmo immediately recognized as the symbol of the Seedrian Royal Family on its top.

"What is that?" Tails asked curiously.

"... You'll see. Here, I'll let you two take a look at it. Certainly, the holographic monitor still works..." Tsali replied.

"And how do you know that?"

"Because I scanned it." Tsali bluntly replied.

Just as Tsali began walking towards the still-working control panel to activate the machine, he was interrupted by the voice of a very familiar pink hedgehog.

_**"TSALI! YOU BASTARD!"**_ Amy Rose, followed closely by Cream, suddenly poured into the chamber. "_Now_ what are you up to?"

"Amy, wait!" Cosmo hurriedly pleaded, "Tsali isn't here to attack me!"

Amy and Cream promptly froze in their tracks. It was at that point that she noticed the disk in Tsali hand.

"But then... what is that in your hand?" Cream asked.

"... It's a data collection that basically answers all of your questions, to put it bluntly." Tsali finally explained. "I'm not going to kill you right now because I know that you all wish to learn the truth... So I'll let this do the explaining for me."

Moments later, Sonic and Knuckles ran into the room; Knuckles was carrying several Chaos Emeralds in his giant hands.

The two Mobians noticed Tsali the moment they stepped into the room.

"Tsali!" Knuckles cried in surprise.

Tsali sweatdropped; every single one of our heroes had greeted him in that exact same tone.

"... I guess bitches really DON'T know that I'm not here to kill Cosmo." He quoted the famous DeTube meme as he proceeded to slip the disk into the console next to him and activate the hologram.

Following a low humming noise, the holomap lit up brightly, and a hologram of a mysterious figure appeared. She vaguely looked like Cosmo, but was obviously much taller. She had bright-white hair with a giant blue flower on her head.

Just as the recorded message began playing, without anybody noticing, Tsali suddenly leaped all the way up to the top of the ruined chamber with his muscle strength and sat down on a small metal beam to watch it himself. Though he had already seen a copy of it, he simply decided to wait around so he could finally talk to them afterward.

"Who is that?" Amy asked in wonder at the holographic plant-like creature.

"Wait a second, that's..." Cosmo began to say, **_"... Mother?"_**

"'Mother'?" Tails commented to his love, though he received no response from her.

The recording then began to play an extremely beautiful yet distressed and serious tone.

_"Cosmo... My daughter... If you are listening to this message, than either Tsali and Dark Oak are both dead or I have been killed. Thus, I have created this message as my last testament to the terrible events that happened to our people, and my explanation of the origins of the Metarex Rebellion."_

Tsali, listening in from above, personally thought it was ironically funny that he of all people happened to be listening to this recording... again.

_"This place is the former Seedrian capital city of Greengade on Planet Seedrius, and I am Hertia the Seedrian. I was once the Chieftess of the Seedrian people. This planet was once beautiful and prosperous, and it flourished with all kinds of life."_

_"There was a planet near Seedrius known as Thyferra, populated by a large group of peaceful anthropomorphic colonists."_ A small screen appeared to the side, with another planet showing.

_"However, without any sort of provocation or declaration of war, Thyferra was suddenly attacked by the Demon Empire."_

The screen then switched to a long recording of a group of Demon warships firing a barrage of plasma fire at the planet, turning the surface into molton glass. Then, a few seconds later, the feed switched to initial Seedrian broadcasting during their investigation of the now-barren Thyferran surface.

Even Cosmo was shocked by the devastation.

_"... Every single innocent colonist on the planet - almost 6 billion people total - was murdered by the Demons in the invasion, except for a single young boy. And his name... was Tsali Z'Charon."_

Now, a photo appeared of what looked like a small anthropomorphic kitsune with brown fur and with only a single tail.

_Tsali... **Z'Charon**? Is that really Tsali's identity? Was he really the only survivor of the destruction of his home?_, Cosmo wondered.

Of course, the recording kept droning on.

_"In response to this barbaric massacre, my husband Chief Luke declared war on the Demon Empire, vowing revenge for the attack against our allies."_

The picture changed to film footage of who everybody recognized as Luke the Seedrian, giving a strong forceful speech on television before a gigantic crowd of Seedrians standing in what appeared to be a square in the center of the past Greengade.

_"Of course, the Demons almost immediately launched their pre-planned invasion of our world, and the Demon-Seedrian War began with our defeat in Battle of Seedrius."_

New flm footage, this time of a space battle between Demon capital ships and what had to have been Seedrian warships, began rolling for a few seconds.

_"... From the resulting planetary invasion, and the war that followed, our planet and its population were decimated. Over two-hundred million Demons were killed in the ferocious conflict, and many more Seedrians were also lost. And it was in the last several months of the war that everything unraveled."_

_"Realizing that we would certainly face defeat if we did not act, Luke decided on a drastic plan; pool all Seedrian resources into a super-secret operation that he called Project Tryphon, the creation of the 'Ultimate Weapon'. He believed that with this 'Ultimate Weapon', the Seedrians would be able to drive the Demons off the planet and claim total victory."_

_"Within a single month, thanks to the amount of time and technology used, the creation of the first prototype was ready for testing; a horrifically mutated version of an animal native to this planet. It was called..."_

At that moment, a picture of what appeared to be the most terrible monster any of them had seen appeared.

_"... Quadraxis the Destroyer."_

The massive creature that was now showing before them was almost impossible to describe in words, but I, Eric, will attempt to do so now.

The Quadraxis was basically an armoured beast several hundred feet tall. It had four building-sized legs with translucent armor plating, revealing what looked like pieces of tattered pale flesh mixed with wires and machinery underneath the plating. Each leg was ended by three prongs for "feet"; in the middle of these three prongs were huge retractable spikes. It's four-legged behemoth frame was connected to a tiny central area with insectoid hairs growing from underneath it. Connected to this central body were also four mechanical arms equipped with (respectively) a buzzsaw, a plug-like device, a drill, and a metal hand. The insect-like head was topped with a glass dome, covering what appeared to be a huge pulsating brain, and just below the edge of this dome were the monster's two gigantic anthropomorphic electric-yellow eyes. Finally, to top it all off, attached to the sides of the head via small slots were three long fleshy necks, ending in ravenous toothy velociraptor-like heads.

Cosmo gasped slightly as she saw the creature in all of its gruesome glory.

"Huh... and I thought the Biolizard was fugly..." Shadow commented. "Guess Cosmo's people were way smarter than Gerald ever was."

_"At first, after seeing Luke's initial testing, I believed that his plan might actually work, despite my nausea towards this new monster. Unfortunately, that was not to be."_

_"A few weeks before it was going to be activated, a Seedrian traitor named Zhar slipped past its security and injected a powerful Demonish computer virus into the creature's brain, overriding all of its loyalty programming designed to keep it from going rogue. Over the next few days, the now-crazed monster rampaged through the scientific district of Greengate, leveling three-quarters of it before it was finally subdued."_

_"In the aftermath of this failure, I ordered all assets to the project to be seized, and the Quadraxis itself was sealed away deep underground. But what I didn't know at that time was that by creating the Quadraxis, Luke had secretly gone completely insane with his dream to build his Ultimate Weapon. He was totally undaunted by the failure of the Quadraxis."_

_"Thus, without my knowledge or consent, he secretly began the creation of a second Ultimate Weapon. What I didn't know was that he had used the most unlikely creature imaginable for such a purpose..."_

The next recording was the knockout punch of her story. The fox that they recognized as Tsali Z'Charon was suspended in a huge capsule filled with liquid, with wires connected all over him. However, his body had been torn up almost beyond recognition. His entire body had been skinned of fur; his hands and feet had been amputated at the wrists and ankles respectively; his eyes had been gouged out and still had dried blood staining their pulps.

_"He had abducted Tsali Z'Charon, and had turned him into little more than his own experiment. Ripping him apart, rebuilding him into an super-strong android, and infusing him with the power of Chaos from our Planet Egg, the former Tsali Z'Charon was now Tsali the Ultimate Weapon."_

Though nobody saw it, Tsali looked away from the recording in disgust at this point. He remembered those tortuous minutes and hours like they had only occurred yesterday; the drills whirring up, the screaming, the frantic talking... and that _burning_...

Amy nearly vomited from the sight; she was only stopped by the aid of Cream, who was also initially on the verge of tossing her lunch.

_"Of course, I eventually found out about all of Luke's planning. Although I do not have time to elaborate further, everything went wrong."_

_"... From that point on, the fears of every Seedrian had been realized; as the Demons rapidly began creating siege lines around Greengade in preparation for their final assault, Tsali escaped from the testing labs moments after being awakened, demolishing the building and slaughtering everyone inside. Luke managed to escape the building before he became one of the victims."_

_"... And that is when the Great Tribulation, as the Seedrians now know it, began."_

The words "Great Tribulation" immediately struck a cord with Cosmo; she had learned all about those bloody days from her sister. It was the Seedrian name for the two final weeks of their war against the Demons, in which the Demons sacked Greengade, razed it to the ground, and put everything in it to the sword.

_"For the two weeks after Tsali destroyed the research facility where he was being held, the Demons launched their offensive against the now-ruined Seedrian capital, and what followed was one of the bloodist genocides in the history of this galaxy."_

_"Tsali, now free, deleted all of his deactivation protocols and, driven by a newfound manic lust for revenge, began massacring the inhabitents of Greengade. And at the exact same time, the Demons were doing the same thing, for they too were now committed to a policy of genocide against our race. Bitter and bloody fighting raged through the once-busy streets, until what remained of the Seedrian forces were pushed back to a tiny perimeter around the government quarter extending just outside the downtown limits."_

_"The Seedrians had no hope of survival; we would surely become extinct if we allowed the Demons and Tsali to press us in from two sides. And thus, I devised a final desperate plan to ensure our survival... before I made the biggest mistake of my life."_

Hertia's hologram seemed to look downwards, as if in shame.

_"... For creating the scourge of our race that was Tsali Z'Charon, and for what he did to Tsali, I condemned Luke, my own husband, and his men to death."_

_"Abandoned by me and my allies, Luke and his remaining comrades thus kept fighting in the city, knowing that they were all doomed, with the simple desire to take Tsali Z'Charon and as many Demons down with them as they could."_

_"What Luke nor his comrades knew was that I had cooked up an emergency contingency plan in case something like this ever happened. I knew that if Tsali killed the remaining troops and escaped the planet, he would never stop hunting us down until we were dead, and he would certainly bring darkness upon the whole galaxy. Thus, I sprung the contigency plan into action."_

_"... As the Dandelion left the atmosphere, I ordered the commmencing of Code 16, the title of my plan, in a final last-ditch attempt to kill Tsali once and for all. And thus, the final wasting of this planet began. __Upon my order, twenty tousand nuclear weapons secretly buried underneath the whole planet surface detonated." _

A smaller recorded clip came from a military camera attached to a building looking out at the stormy horizen. Without warning, five blinding flashes of nuclear light burst from the crust of the planet, followed by ten more much closer by, which caused the camera to short-circuit from the EMP shockwaves.

_"Every last surviving specimen of wildlife and plants still left here was wiped out, along with almost 900 million Demon soldiers that were still on-planet; only about 20% of the total Demon invaders survived. __In addition, every last Seedrian soldier left behind that kept on fighting were killed as well..."_

Hertia's hologram suddenly gulped in fear, _"... Or so I thought."_

She then explained the final part of her previous factoid. "_Luke and four other Seedrians somehow survived the apocalypse; as I later found out, Tsali secretly did as well. And it was after this that he was seduced by the power of the very Evil One who masterminded this whole conflict..."_

"... Satan, right?" Amy suddenly commented. Indeed, she was proven correct by Hertia's next words.

_"... Lord Maledict the Devil, the demonic ruler of the Demons. He offered Tsali revenge in exchange for his servitude to the Devil, and Tsali agreed. Now, upon Maledict's orders, Tsali began a galaxy-wide hunt for any remaining Seedrians left, including me and my clan of refugees aboard the Dandelion."_

_But what about Dad? How did he..._ Cosmo wondered, just before her question was answered.

_"It was sometime around this point - I don't know for sure when - that Luke and his four surviving friends were taken to an unknown location by the mysterious sentient known only as 'M', whom had originally contacted the Seedrians early in the War."_

"... 'M'? Who's that? Dad and Mom never mentioned him..." Cosmo muttered in surprise; she had never even heard about any such figure.

_"'M' told Luke that if he would promise to follow him, M would help them to claim vengeance upon Tsali and avenge all the people who died on Seedrius. Though I don't know for sure, I believe that this same M also helped create specially-built power suits for them out of rare Hyper Emeralds, for they had been so hurt by the nuclear blasts that they could not survive without medical attention."_

_"And so, under the control of M, Luke and his four friends, gathering every other remaining Seedrian they could find across the galaxy, created the Metarex Confederacy, an organization with the sole goal of killing Tsali Z'Charon and avenging our planet. Luke became known as his codename Dark Oak, the Supreme Metarex Leader. The Metarex almost immediately came at odds with Tsali Z'Charon, who was determined as ever to sic his horrifying bloodlust on the remainder of our species on the orders of his new master Satan. The Metarex Wars were about to begin; the two mortal enemies still fight each other to this day."_

Though nobody noticed, Tsali himself jumped from his perched and strolled quietly towards the hologram player; he didn't want to listen to her say the next few lines.

_"Cosmo, please! You are the last hope for the Seedrian race! You must stop Lord Maledict and Tsali at all cost! Before they..."_

Before the hologram finished speaking, it abruptly shut off as Tsali took the disk out. It was at that moment that everyone noticed that he was the one who arbitrarily ended the recording.

However, nobody said any word for what seemed like an hour, although it was really only a few minutes; every one of our heroes - Cosmo especially - were still trying to comprehend what they had just witnessed.

"... I guess the tale of the great Tsali _Z'Charon _has finally been answered..." Amy broke the intimidating pause, glaring at Tsali as she disrespectfully said his true last name.

"So... So that's why... You hate me so much..." Cosmo stuttered in shock; she couldn't believe that her own father had turned Tsali in the monster he was now.

She had remembered what her sister Galaxina had told her long ago about how their clan had to flee from their sins; now, she understood what her sister meant perfectly.

The Ultimate Weapon simply smiled at the young Seedrian, knowing that now, she had the blame for everything upon her. "So how does it FEEL, Cosmo?"

"How does what feel?" Cosmo asked.

"... How does it feel to know that your own family did THIS to me! Your species took everything from me - my body, my heart, and even my soul!" Tsali accused, "And THAT is why I vowed to punish you."

"Tsali, wait for one moment..." Tails suddenly came in as the mediator. "You can't blame Cosmo for something that she didn't do. She had nothing to do with what her father did to you."

"She has EVERYTHING to do with it. Because she has HIS blood in her; the blood that I crave so very much. Or at least, that I did crave at one point." Tsali replied, sighing. "Well, at least I won't have all of you asking me about her anymore. So, if everything is said and done now, if you excuse me..."

Without warning, Tsali suddenly turned around and began walking out of the building.

"Where do you think you're going, Tsali? Arent you after Cosmo?" Knuckles yelled after him. The echidna noticed that Tsali was looking at what appeared to be a card in his palm.

"... I have something more important than Cosmo to attend to now." The jet-black fox held up the card for our heroes to see. "Venus the Seedrian gave this card to me before she was killed by Dark Tails. She was just able to tell me that the truth behind the Metarex Wars was hidden in a vault somewhere underneath the old Seedrian research complex. I am going to find this vault and figure out the truth behind everything once and for all."

He then added, before running off, "You can come with me if you would like, because I have great news for you; I've decided not to kill you. Even you, Cosmo. Because this is much more important to me now."

Cosmo was the first one to sprint after her former archnemesis.

"Cosmo! Don't go!" Amy pleaded. "He's trying to trick us!"

Cosmo gave her a determined expression. "I'm sorry Amy, but if this truth that Tsali is talking about involves Maledict or my family, I wish to know."

She then ran off in Tsali's direction, closely followed by all of her friends.

...

As the Ultimate Weapon found himself in front of what he recognized as the ruins of the research complex, he began going into the still open-entrance, navigating himself through the piles of debris that still were strewn about ever since he had destroyed this building thirty years before.

Yet, it oddly still reminded the jet-black fox of the time that he was an unwilling guest here.

Twenty minutes later, Tsali was descending deep underneath the rubble of the old Seedrian research facility via an elevator built into the ground. Though he didn't see them, he was closely being followed by Sonic and his friends, who were on the surface waiting for the second elevator.

The Ultimate Weapon stepped out of the elevator as it stopped on a long, dark corridor, lit only by dim light bulbs. Derelict machinery and broken pipes filled the corridor, which branched out into several secondary ones.

It was at that moment when Tsali realized where he actually was inside the facility.

"Wait a second..." He muttered to himself. He felt like an unseen force was puling him along, compelling him to find his way towards the room where it all began. Tsali ran down the corrdor, not navigating by knowledge, but seemingly by instinct alone.

He continued until he found himself at an all too familiar door.

Next to this entrance, there was a faded sign; _"Test Subject 666: Project Tryphon operation room 90210. **TOP SECRET: Authorized Personnel Only**"_

Despite this, the moment he stepped at the door, it willingly slid open for him, and Tsali took several fateful steps into the first room he had seen after he had been roboticized.

The chamber was dirty and dusty; rocks and ancient debris lay scattered all over. However, in the center of the room was a broken incubation pod, with glass still shattered around it.

And it was none other than Tsali's capsule, the exact same one he had been place in so long ago.

For what seemed like a long time, Tsali simply stood there looking about. The memories of this room - and of this entire building, really - were flooding back into his mind like a tidal wave. He simply could not bring himself to walk away; the sensation of his own flashbacks were too powerful for him to even move.

"... Tsali?" He was suddenly snapped out of his dreaming by a young female voice. He turned around in surprise; Cosmo, with her friends behind her, was standing in the doorway with a curious face.

"Oh, so you did decide to come..." Tsali turned back to looking at the room nostalgically. "... This room is where it all began."

"Where what began?" Amy asked.

"... The last time I was in this room..." Tsali paused for a second, "... was when broke out of my pod... 30 years ago."

There was an eeriely silent pause of about ten seconds, during which the only thing that could be heard was the slow ticking of an intact clock up on the wall.

Without saying a word, Tsali suddenly turned around and stepped through the door, bypassing Cosmo and all of her buddies. They didn't say a word either as our heroes followed the Ultimate Weapon aimlessly.

Tsali had a guess as to where this vault was. About twenty years before, Tsali had heard rumours about an incredible secret buried in the primary excavation site of the facility. Though he did not know for sure yet, he had estimated that this same secret could be what Venus had told him about with her dying words.

Guess it was time to find out, Tsali thought, as he made his way off of his remaining memory towards the elevator leading to the excavation site.

He soon came upon an identical elevator to the one he was just on, and stepped into its still-working form. To his surprise, he was rapidly followed by his former enemies, who all squeezed into the moderately large lift as it began its long descent.

The walls quickly changed from metal walls to stone boulders and caverns. Though the jet-black android kitsune stood motionlessly, the others were curiously looking around their new surroundings.

"Tsali, where exactly are we going?" Amy asked apprehensively.

"... Excavation Site 1." Tsali spoke in a somber tone. Amy and her friends could only wonder what that was, until the elevator finally descended to the bottom of its journey and stopped.

As our heroes exited the elevator, their footsteps echoed in the cavern beyond. It was almost pitch-black, except for several old klieg lamps still standing about with the power on. It was also quite damp and humid; the faint sound of dripping water could be heard echoing in the darkness.

"Hey, Tsali! Do you know how old this place is?" Cosmo asked her enemy-turned-ally.

"... It dates back before the Demon-Seedrian War," Tsali began explaining, "A group of miners digging up ore randomly found ancient Forerunner artifacts. Investigating further, they found what they believed to be a long-lost Forerunner temple. Thus, the former mine was then turned into an archeological dig, and they discovered numerous artifacts here. It was shut down just before the war ended."

Our heroes kept going briskly through the dark cavern. Bright-green moss and very unusual bushes were growing to and fro, watered by the groundwater dripping off the ceiling.

They were able to find their way thanks to the klieg lights still scattered through the cave. Everyone admired what these lights were shining on as they went along.

The lights were shining on large metal tablets inside sealed containers with dusty glass viewpanes. Each tablet had what appeared to be unknown symbols and writing, along with the occasional picture and hieroglyphic. Many of these pictures had kitsune-like traits and features, as Tails in particular noticed.

Eventually, after several minutes of walking through the dank caverns, the ceiling suddenly vanished into blackness as they walked through a large opening in the rock.

"Hey, what the..." Knuckles asked, looking upwards. It was at that point that they realized that the cavern was now so huge and yet dimly-lit that it was impossible to see the ceiling.

Tsali activated his Scan vision mode, brightening up the whole room to him. He noticed a switch connected to a series of klieg lights on the ceiling, which he could see thanks to his vision mode.

Walking over nonchalantly to it, Tsali flipped the switch; the gigantic cavern was immediately lit up brightly by more klieg lights as Tsali changed back to his default vision mode. However, a large section of the ceiling was still shrouded in pitch-blackness.

Our heroes awed at the room before them.

They were inside what appeared to be an enormous temple foyer, with giant metal fox statues lining the walls. There were old artificial wooden catwalks scattered around the area; obviously, they had been used by the late archeologists who once studied here. There were numerous other versions of the same tablets they had seen before scattered about the floor. The sprawling walls were covered with line after line of even more unknown alien writing.

In the very rear of the room, several hundred feet in front of them, was what appeared to be a giant metal building, partially swallowed up by rock. It was connected to the cave floor by a large staircase, leading up to a small door. It heavily reminded Knuckles and Sonic of the ancient Echidna temple located in the Mystic Jungle back on Mobius.

Cosmo was the first to step forward and advance through this cavern as she looked about in wonder at the secret she was now seeing. Meanwhile, Tails, in all of his geekiness, had made a beeline for the walls in order to investigate the writing on them.

"Hmm..." Tails spoke, his voice echoing loudly in the cavern even though he did not speak too audibly. "I've never seen this writing before..."

"Shhh! Keep your voice down!" Amy shushed him, although she ironically made more noise than he did.

Cosmo, meanwhile, had advanced towards a large circle in the center of the room. A small viaduct filled with very shallow water spanned the center of the circle.

However, before she was able to go further, she was interrupted by a low rumble that shook the whole cave; lightly at first, and then becoming more pronounced by the second.

"... What's that... that vibration?" Shadow called out in the darkness.

"An earthquake?" Sonic wondered out loud.

Suddenly, the shaking stopped without any warning.

Shadow chuckled somewhat. "Hey, it stopped..." However, he was cut off by a loud scream coming from Cosmo, who was still in the center of the room.

"Cosmo! Are you okay?" Tails instantly ran to her side. He found his love frozen in terror, her dilated eyes staring up at the ceiling.

"...U-U... U-Up t-t-there!" She managed to stutter and pointed up at the dark ceiling.

And so it was that the Chosen One saw; two huge glowing yellow eyes staring down at them out of the darkness that shrouded the cavern ceiling. The two eyes did not flinch nor move; they stayed completely motionless, except for about one or two blinks. At this point, even Tails was frozen in place by the spectacle, though he wasn't shaking in fear like Cosmo; he was staring blankly.

However, Tsali seemed to recognize, to his horror, the thing that had now detected them. "Oh no... Not again..."

The cave began to vibrate yet again for a few moments. Which, to everyone's surprise, was followed by what sounded like a loud cackling dinosaur growl from above.

Thus, the cavern shook once more as the beast attached to the ceiling latched off and landed on the cavern floor, revealing itself in all of its glory. The entire cave shook fiercely from the sheer girth of the monster that had now landed only a few feet in front of Cosmo.

It was none other than Quadraxis the Destroyer itself, in the leathery flesh and translucent armor. It appeared just as it had been depicted on Hertia's holo-message, except for of course being much larger now that they were standing right in front of it. Indeed, it was actually larger than any of them except for Tsali had originally assumed.

"It's that creature! The same one from that message!" Sonic exclaimed.

"... So _this_ is the prototype of Dark Oak's Ultimate Weapon... that was supposed to have been sealed away..." Knuckles muttered dramatically to himself.

Cosmo was about to move before she felt Tsali talk quietly to her and Tails.

"Do. Not. Move." Tsali warned sternly but quietly, "It's attracted to sudden movements, like all Quad insects normally are."

"Quad insects?" Tails asked.

"... Yes. The Quadraxis is basically a mutated cyborg Quad. Thus, it has the same natural traits as regular miniature ones." Tsali rapidly told. "Everyone! Get over to that door ASAP! I'll distract it as long as I can."

"But Tsali..." Cosmo pleaded.

"Don't start, Seedrian. I have fought this fugly faker before. And he's really the only opponent that is a match for me one-on-one."

Pausing for a few seconds, Sonic and his friends sans Tsali immediately sprinted around the Quadraxis. The raptor heads of the original Ultimate Weapon roared loudly in instinctual reaction to their movement, and one of the monster's building-sized legs attempted to sweep the anthros away.

It would have done so, had Tsali not thrown a collection of Dark Chaos Spears directly at the creature's main head module. The eyes of the Quadraxis flinched in response, but did nothing other than turn their attention to the real Ultimate Weapon.

Tsali Z'Charon simply smiled when he locked eyes with his gigantic nemesis. "Hey, Quaddy, old buddy! I'm back! Did you miss me?"

Having no mouth, the giant anthro eyes of the Quadraxis simply stared at him for a few moments. However, its bright-yellow pupils immediately dilated into reptilian slits as it seemed to recall the old challenger before it.

By this time, the other heroes had made it to the door, and turned around to watch the spectacle before them.

The giant beast suddenly vanished in a giant teleportation flash akin to Chaos Control.

"Uh-oh..." Tsali muttered.

His fear were immediately realized when the Quadraxis reappeared in another flash right behind him and brutally slammed him into the wall with its legs, kicking up a small cloud of dust and rock. The creature attacked so quickly that even Sonic barely saw it move.

The battered but unbroken Tsali teleported onto the creature's leg, the sharp spike on the bottom of the "foot" stuck in the wall following its previous attack. In reply to this, the robotic arm wielding the spinning saw blade lunged at him, attempting to saw him in two.

Tsali jumped out of the way onto the cavern floor just as the saw was about to hit him. The spinning blade unleased a shower of dust and sparks as it sliced the wall rather than the black fox.

The Quadraxis righted itself as it turned back towards its old enemy, and prepared for another attack.

Said creature's nemesis decided to attack first. Tsali Z'Charon leaped onto the giant knee plating of the Quadraxis, narrowly dodging a quick lunge of the electrical-plug weapon while in the air. One of the raptor heads extended to about thrice its intial length and attempted to snatch Tsali in its toothy maw, but Tsali leaped harmlessly over the head as it struck.

Tsali immediately jumped as high as he could and landed gracefully on the glass dome atop the Quadraxis' head module.

The monster proceeded to jerk and stomp erratically around in a desperate attempt to fling Tsali right off, shaking the cavern as it did so, but the Ultimate Weapon held firmly.

The three raptor heads rose up to greet the black fox atop the Quadraxis. As all three of them timed their next strike, Tsali jumped through a small blind spot right in the middle of them, Matrix style.

Before they could turn around and strike again, Tsali fired a quick Dark Chaos Spear at the glass, shattering a large piece of it and causing the three heads to screech loudly in pain as glass shards became embedded in the gray matter, along with making the Quadraxis itself wobble slightly.

The real Ultimate Weapon dived into the sticky, slimy cerebellum of the monster's pulsating brain. Unlike most, Tsali knew the creature's weak point.

Jabbing his hand into the large slick mass of tissue, he felt around for the primary cerebral activation area. After a few seconds of feeling around, he found it; a mass of wires around a small central box.

Tsali immediately grabbed the box and ripped it out of the super-sized Quad's brain. He could hear the loud agonizing roars of the raptor heads outside, and he could feel the beast stomping and stuttering in pain.

With his bare hands, he grabbed the small cube and ripped it in half with his bare hands. It sparked with electricity as its inner components shattered.

And that was when Tsali noticed something; not only had the raptor heads ceased their crying, but the Quadraxis itself had completely frozen in place.

The Ultimate Weapon, of course, was expecting this; he had aimed at that point for a reason.

Climbing out of the now-dormant head module, he jumped off the head of the Quadraxis, slowing his descent back to the ground with his blue hovershoes. He dashed back over to where his recently-made friends were staring at him blankly.

"... What did you do, Tsali?" Cosmo asked.

"... I broke its primary CPU system. Now, the Quadraxis is locked in a comatose deactivated state until its repair cycle ends."

"And how long will its repair cycle take?" Cream asked.

"Judging from how much I damaged it, about six hours at the least, and a full day at most." Tsali suddenly took out his green card from inside his glove, "Plenty of time."

"Why did you not kill it?" Knuckles asked, looking at him askance.

"Well, Knuckles, good question. The reason is that the Quadraxis is basically my equal in nearly every way except biology and size. It has all of my same powers and abilities. It can even use Chaos powers, as you probably noticed when it teleported behind me. I really do not have time to fight it again and finish it off right now."

"Okay, whatever you say." The M.E. Guardian dismissed as Tsali stepped up to the large metal door before them.

The Ultimate Weapon glanced at the control panel next to the door; it had a tiny, thin slot connected to an opening mechanism above the door.

_Just like something used to swipe cards through... Wait... **Cards! **_Tsali realized as he investigated.

He promptly swiped the green card through the slot. Despite its age, the panel immediately came to life, and the large door slowly opened for them.

"... This is it..." Cosmo muttered to herself, ready for whatever they would find inside.

How surprised were all of them when they walked passed the door into the fateful room beyond.

If it could even be called a room. In reality, it was a tiny circular antechamber, dimly lit by only two light bulbs. A large screen, looking suspiciously clean and new compared to everything else they had seen previously, was set on the back wall. In the middle of the room was a small tape player connected to this screen. In front of the player was a small red box with a pentagram symbol on it.

"... So THIS is what I've come all this way for?" Tsali was completely unimpressed. "Ah, Venus... You sure had one sick sense of humor..."

"Hey, what's this?" Amy suddenly noticed the small box. She promptly knelled down in front of it, glancing at the pentagram on top of the box before opening up the dusty lid. Inside the box, she found what appeared to be two small disks.

"I found something!" The pink hedgehog added as she walked back over to the projector, showing the two disks. One had a red pentagram stenciled on it; the other was simply a gray CD.

"What are those?" Trinity asked.

"Dunno. I found them in that box over there." She pointed over to the box.

At this point, Tsali realized that one of those specific disks could be the very thing that Venus had told him about before her death. However, he decided to not jump to conclusions just yet.

"I guess we can watch it with that projector in the middle. Let's take a look." Tails took the disk with the pentagram on it and slipped it inside the projector, turning on the small green button on the side as he did so.

The old projector hummed to life, and the dark room brightened as it began playing the incredible recording.

At first, there was no picture from the recording; there was only sound with a black screen. There were small thumping nosies in the background, almost like something being set up or moved about.

_"... Is this thing on? Beelzebub, is this rolling?"_

The all-too-familiar voice of Lord Maledict suddenly played; it was an audio recording of his voice. Though it was in Demonish, there were subtitles at the bottom.

_"Umm... yeah, it should be."_ Beelzebub's voice replied from the background.

_"Okay then. Ahem..."_

A burst of static covered the screen for a few moments, before finally bringing the picture to view...

...

_The screen showed a pitch-black room; nothing was visible except for a table in the center, and a gun sitting in the middle of the table._

_There was a sound offscreen as the door to the room opened and a figure slowly walked in, his metal armoured boots clanking loudly on the floor with every step. He was entirely covered with a black cloak; thus, our heroes had a probable idea of who it was._

_With a quiet click, a light situated above the table turned on, revealing another figure sitting on the other side of the table. The humanoid who walked into the room before now sat down across the table from the woman who was already there._

_The cloaked being pulled back his hood; just as everyone thought, it was Lord Maledict himself. However, it was the other figure that most shocked our heroes._

_Hunched in the other chair was none other than the very woman that they had seen a holo-recording of back on the surface; Hertia the Seedrian, not in her tree form, but in her normal form._

...

Tails immediately rushed over and paused at that very second, attempting to comprehend what he had just noticed on the screen.

"Hey, wait a second!" Amy exclaimed, "That's Cosmo's mother, Hertia the Seedrian!"

"**Mother?** But... that's impossible! She died when my colony ship was destroyed! And besides, she had changed into her tree form as well before I was even born! How did he... change her back?" Cosmo also shouted in surprise.

"... And why is he even _with_ Hertia in the first place? What does he think he is doing?" Tsali wondered out loud.

"Let's keep watching and find out." Shadow spoke, playing the recording again.

...

_There was a pause of several seconds before either one of the two sitting figures spoke._

_"... Where... How did I get here?" Hertia was glancing around, still disoriented by her surroundings. "I only remember Tsali Z'Charon entering my chamber on my ship, and an explosion... and some sort of red flash..."_

_"Hello, Hertia the Seedrian." Maledict decided to interrupt her remincising. She nearly jumped in surprise and froze with fear as she stared at the Devil straight in his eyes, her blood freezing to ice and her face turning a deathly pale._

_"... L-L-L-Lord M-Maledict?" She suttered in a mix of surprise and fright. Satan did not show any emotion; he only stared at her blankly._

_"It's been a very long time... Almost 30 years, in fact. How is everything going?" He interrogated in an oddly informal way._

_"... Well..." The former Seedrian Chieftess was at a complete loss for words. _

_However, after a few seconds, she seemed to remember what she was going to say. "... Okay, forget that; what the fuck is going on, Maledict? What did you do to my clan? And where am I?"_

_"Currently, you are in Interrogation Block 91985-666, in the Tower of Babel. And as for you family... I sent Tsali to... take care of them." He spoke with a dangerous tone. "However, before the Dandelion exploded, I teleported your evolved form out of the ship with Altus Control. Thus, I gave Tsali and your surviving daughter Cosmo the illusion that you were dead."_

_Hertia stared down at the ground, comprehending all of this, as the Devil finished his explanation._

_"Then, after transporting your tree form back to Hell and reviving you, I had your form forcefully devolved back into your original state with the help of some of my finest scientists. And afterward, I put you in here, and you have been unconcious ever since then. That was five days ago."_

_"But why the hell did you save me, Satan? You sent your friend to slaughter my entire family!" The white Seedrian yelled at him. __"... I know all about your little plan, Satan. You ordered the destruction of Thyferra and the invasion of Seedrius. You commanded your troops to slaughter every living thing on the surface. You tricked Tsali Z'Charon ito following you by taking advantage over his part in Luke's Project Tryphon!"_

_Maledict gave her a small smile, curling one of his nonexistent eyebrows smugly. "... **Luke's **Project Tryphon?"_

_"Huh?" She recoiled._

_The Devil promptly reached underneath his chair, and now, in his hand was a small red folder with a pentagram and the Demonish word for **"CLASSIFIED"** written on it._

_"... That would be **my **Project Tryphon!" Maledict raised his voice a notch as he slammed the folder in front of Hertia, causing it to open and spill a treasure trove of blueprints and orders over the table._

_Two blueprints in particular caught Hertia's eyes; one was for what she recognized as the Quadraxis, the other one she recognized as a cross-section of Tsali Z'Charon's body. Both prints were covered with Demonish writing, as were all of the other top-secret documents that were now on the table._

_However, after looking at the Quadraxis blueprints, she noticed an old slip of paper underneath it, and a single word caught her eye before she realized what it was about; **"Thyferra".**_

_"... No... That can't be..." She uttered as she glanced over the history-changing documents that lay before her._

_"Oh yes, Hertia..." Maledict spoke somberly._

_"... **I **am the one who created the Quadraxis! And** I** am the brains behind Tsali's creation!"_

_..._

Both in the recording and in reality, it was possible to hear an electron buzz around.

Tsali staggered backwards viciously, holding his head in complete traumatic shock. He stared at the floor in an extremely creepy way, his eyes darting around as if he had just turned into a wild beast.

However, no one else paid the slightest attention to him; they themselves were too busy giving an "OMGWTFBBQ" look at the screen. Nobody could move, for they were seemingly frozen in place like the petrified wood on the surface.

...

_"My god..." Hertia whispered as she realized how much of a part her enemy had in this mess. Furious tears rapidly began welling up in her eyes. "...You motherfucker! So you really **are** responsible for everything!"_

_As Hertia began yelling hysterically, the Devil did nothing at all. Rather than show benevolent compassion or malevolent joy, he simply stared at her blankly like she was some sort of mere attraction at a zoo._

_Suddenly, a faint beeping noise could be heard from inside Maledict's cloak. Hertia froze, not expecting this. The Evil One slipped his shriveled hand into his cloak and suddenly pulled out a small communicator._

_Hertia then noticed that his face showed a cruel smile as he checked the ID of the being who sent the message._

_"Why... Why are you looking at your communicator now?" Hertia said, somewhat calmer but still on the verge of tears._

_"Oh, this? Well... Let's just say it has something to do with someone you know."_

_"... Shut up! It doesn't matter now..." Hertia now glared at him, tears still in her eyes. "I know about Luke and his friends. But I know they'll avenge us, because they have M on their side! I trust M; he helped us build the Dandelion, and he saved Luke and his friends from dying by creating their suits. He gave us a cloaking device so we could escape, and it was only because of him that we lasted for so long."_

_Satan closed his eyes dramatically for a few seconds._

_"... Surely, Hertia, you have read the Book of Kommandments, korrect?" Maledict asked._

_"Yes, I have. I took a literary kriticism class on it back when I was an honor student at the Duniversity of Caronius." Hertia nodded frankly._

_"Then you certainly know my famous memoir of Abraham and Sodom?"_

_"Of course."_

_"... When I found out that the twin human cities of Sodom and Gomorrah were secretly hiding important Angel officials and defying my orders many years ago, I wanted to destroy them with all of my heart. However, Abraham, a local shephard whom I befriended, begged with me not to."_

_"I know the story, Satan." Hertia attempted to wiggle her way out of talking about this with no success._

_"... In my mercy, I ended up promising Abraham that if he could find just ten righteous humans for me, I would spare both cities," Maledict recounted his legendary story from the Kommandments. "As it were, he failed, and I had both towns bombarded into ashes from orbit."_

_"I don't care..." Hertia refuted in a rude manner._

_"Well, you should. You see, the saga of your species and their end is quite similar to my story if you think about it for a while. It's what I like to call... Unholy justice. That concept is explored through that story, and is continued through that whole section."_

_The Devil suddenly smiled. "Excuse me for one moment. __It seems that a certain someone has just called." __Maledict's claim was backed up by the distinctive 16-bit Doom video game ringtone that had actually been playing for a few seconds, but was muffled by the Devil's ebony robes._

_He held up the communicator to his ear and a voice that everyone recognized was on the line._

_"... M! It's great to talk to you again. It's me, Luke." The distorted electrified voice of Dark Oak, with his helmet on, sounded out of the phone._

_"Luke! I thought I told you already; don't call me 'M' over this clear channel! Remember, unless we're all together privately, it's 'Miyuza' now. We can't be too sure who could be secretly listening."_

_It was easy to notice that Maledict had changed his own voice; rather than somewhat lower-pitched and mature, it was slightly higher-pitched, lighter, and more natural-sounding._

_And that was when Hertia, along with the heroes watching at this point, realized the truth._

_"N-No... No... It can't be... true..." Hertia stuttered, her brain still trying to comprehend this sudden revelation._

_"Yes... Okay Luke, I trust you with this... Uh-huh... I'll see ya later. Miyuza out." _

_With that, Maledict shut off his phone, immediately smiling at the frozen form of Hertia. _

_"Indeed, Hertia. I should have told you a long time ago... But I never got the chance to reveal to you who gave you that cloaking device... and who protected you from Tsali for almost thirty years... For it is I."_

_He seductively grinned, in ultimate triumph, as he stated;_

_"...** I** am M."_

_For what seemed like an eternity and a minute, it was once again possible to hear an electron buzzing around in the room. Metaphorically, of course. _

_At first, the Seedrian Chieftess did nothing, and she only stared at him blankly as her face wrinkled. Her doe-eyed expression remained as if chiseled; for all purposes, she could have been a statue frozen in place._

_However, she eventually stood up from her seat, still not taking her eyes off the phone as she suddenly grabbed the pistol lying near her on the table. She very slowly turned around, looking straight at the wall with her back to the Devil, and took several steps away from her adversary. Her steps were slow and slightly unsteady, as if she were sleepwalking._

_Unbeknownst to Maledict, but knownst to the anthros watching, Hertia's face rapidly began dripping with tears._

_Consequently, her knees buckled under her; she collapsed onto the cold metal floor and began hysterically weeping as she slouched over herself. The gun she had picked up clattered on the ground as her hand lost its grip on the weapon._

_Once again, Satan showed no pity to the shattered woman in front of him; he once again simply stared at her stoically without emotion._

_**"...T-Then what was it all for, then, Maledict? Or should I say... M?"** She blurted out as best she could through her tears, **"What did all of those innocent people die for? What did Tsali's planet die for? What did my whole FAMILY die for?"**_

_"You would know, Hertia. Because if you say that, then I think you already know the real guilty one here... Do you seriously think that Luke would have ever succeeded with his project if I had not provided him with the technology... and if you had been smart enough to realize what I was planning?" Satan spoke in a completely unsympathetic tone._

_"... You are right... So right... I listened to you... and let the plan go ahead..." The Seedrian Chieftess answered him, slouching even more as she shook her head in despair. __"It's all my fault... Everything that has happened... was because of my doing... I nuked my own planet... I condemned my own husband to death... I doomed my entire race... And the whole time, I thought that..."_

_The Devil did not reply nor attempt to help her. However, he did open up his phone again._

_"... You know, I just began hooking up to Luke's phone. Don't you wish to talk to your husband again?" Maledict asked with very subtle sarcasm, holding his phone out to her._

_"I have nothing to talk about, because I have betrayed him along with everyone else... and because I did, I have lost everything I loved; my people, my husband, my family... Now, I realize that there is only one thing left for me to do..."_

_It was then that Maledict noticed that she had taken the gun in her hand once again; from his facial expression, he obviously understood what she was intending. __She slowly held the firearm up, pointing it at her own temple for a few seconds as she clicked the safety catch off._

_However, before she took her own life, she cried out her last words in a loud voice;_

_"Cosmo... Luke... **Forgive me!"**_

_She squeezed the trigger._

_Her lifeless body immediately fell to the floor as the bullet went straight through her whole head, embedding itself in the obsidian wall to her right; she was dead before she hit the floor. Blood and cerebellum slowly pooled onto the floor from the fatal self-inflicted gunshot. Once again, the Devil did not show any emotion in his eyes or on his face._

_It was possible to hear Maledict mutter one last thing as he stood motionlessly before her corpse;_

_"... Sayonoura, Hertia the Seedrian, and may Altus have mercy on your soul. You've now learned what Cosmo and Luke never understood; that your species is not fit for life anymore."_

_Suddenly, without warning, he took out his phone, and began dialing something it it before holding it up to his ear._

_"Hello?" The voice of Oak echoed through his phone._

_"Luke! This is Miyuza. I didn't want to tell you this, but... I have very bad news for you..."_

_"Miyuza? What happened? What's going on?"_

_"... I don't know how to say this, but... A few minutes ago, I recieved a report confirming that we have found the remains of the GSS Dandelion."_

_There was deathly silence at the other end._

_"... No... That can't be... That's... impossible..." Oak's now-tearful voice came through, as if he had already realized what that meant._

_"... From salvaging the ship's logs from the wreck, we have also confirmed that Tsali Z'Charon found them and attacked them. Without a doubt, Tsali was the one who killed Hertia and your daughters. And I'm almost certain that he did it on Maledict's orders, as well." Satan lied with a completely genuine tone._

_**"MALEDICT!"** Luke roared loudly at the other end, his sorrow transforming into rage, "Now, he's gone too far. Now, I will double my efforts! I will not be stopped until that ningen is dead! I promise you that I WILL avenge my family!"_

_"I know. I am deeply sorry to bring this terrible news. I really am." Maledict spoke with false melancholy._

_"No, Miyuza," Luke's voice had clamed down, "Thank you very much for telling me this. Now, I have to change our priorities..."_

_"... I know that despite what she did to you, you still loved Hertia very much... It was my fault, surely." The Devil spoke, now staring at her very corpse as he smiled to himself._

_"Thank you so much, Miyuza... for everything you have done for us. If it weren't for you, our cause would be lost. I don't blame you for her death. It was my fault... I should have looked for her harder... and..."_

_"I'm only glad to help you out... Hey, hold on..."_

_"What now?" Luke asked, hoping that this news wasn't as tragic._

_"... Luke, I just recieved some great news!" Maledict faked a jubilent, enthusiastic voice._

_"Huh?"_

_"... I just recieved another log that was just found from the wreckage. And sure enough, we have found a survivor!"_

_"Who? Who escaped?"_

_"... One Cosmo the Seedrian, according the log."_

_Dark Oak gasped in surprise; "One of my daughters... is alive? Then we have no time to waste! We must find her before Tsali hunts her down!"_

_With that, Maledict shut off his phone. __From the other side of the room behind Satan, the automatic door slid open with a hiss, and the demonic duo of Beelzebub and Astorath appeared. __Both of them froze as Maledict turned around, put his hands underneath Hertia's body, and lifted her up in his arms. They both stared at Hertia's body for a few seconds._

_"So... It's over? You finally settled the score with Hertia?" Beelzebub asked. Maledict nodded affirmatively as he began walking to the exit._

_"Zir, Cosmo the Seedrian was successfully exfiltrated off the GSS Dandelion, and is now resting peacefully. We have confirmed dat no other members of Cosmo's family escaped alive, per your orders." Astorath reported._

_The Devil stopped moving, and there was a short pause._

_"... Very good work, Astorath." The Evil One replied._

_"Shouldn't we tell the girl about..." Beelzebub asked._

_"No," the Devil interrupted sternly, "Not now, at least."_

_"Den what use do we have of her? She's becoming too much of a problem already! Let's just finish her off now and be done with it! I could crush her head in my bare hands, and nobody would ever know..." Astorath suggested. _

_Maledict instantly glared at his friend. "We have to make sure that she stays alive... and that Tsali does not find her."_

_"But where should we hide her? We can't let her stay in Caronius. Tsali would quickly find out." Beelzebub inquired._

_"... Anywhere. I don't care where you hide her, just make sure she's hidden so that our kitsune ally will not know our involvement... Before then, though, we must implant our special microchip in her brain; thus, we will know where she is at all times, and can react accordingly."_

_"Okay, we'll go put in that chip and then drop her off." Beelzebub affiirmed._

_"... Somewhere where she won't die a horrible death, too." Maledict eyed Beelzebub suspiciously. The fudge-addicted wasp/fly hybrid whistled innocently to himself._

_"Of course. Bug mon, let's go!" Astorath dashed out of the room, followed by the Lord of Flies._

_Maledict paused and looked placidly at the corpse of the former Seedrian Chieftess, before carrying her lifeless form out of the room in his arms as the screen began to fill with static._

_..._

As the recording ended, the disk automatically popped out of the camera, into a small tray underneath the ejection port.

It was the only sound that reverberated through that room.

Until Sonic and his friends heard another noise; one from among them, in fact. Everyone turned towards the sound; it was coming from none other than Tsali, who had huddled his body in the corner, hiding his face. At first, it sounded like he was giggling psychotically. However, it was a few seconds before the others realized what he was actually doing.

Tsali Z'Charon, the Ultimate Weapon, the murderer of millions, the scourge of the Seedrian race, the most powerful android in history... was now doing something he had not done for thirty years...

... He was crying.

Actually, "sobbing hysterically" would be a better way to phrase it.

In the process, the spectacle of seeing the once-fearsome fox completely break down, combined with the sight of Cosmo's mother shooting herself in despair, was enough to make both Amy and Cream break down into tears too. Even Sonic, Knuckles, and Shadow became somewhat teary-eyed.

As Cosmo slowly walked next to Tsali, desperately trying to keep her own tears from overflowing, Tsali suddenly did the most unexpected thing of all. Instantly standing up from his crouched position, still crying, he embraced Cosmo tightly. Cosmo apparently didn't mind; she did the exact same thing to him too.

So the fateful moment was; two former archenemies, now reduced to weeping into each other's shoulders after years of conflict, emotional and mental travesties of whom they once were.

If Maledict would have been watching, he would've had a field day with his apathetic statements.

"I'm... I'm... so sorry... Cosmo..." Tsali whispered through his emotional torment, "For everything I have done to you... You never were my enemy at all..."

"... And... A-And I'm so sorry too, Tsali!" She also sobbed into his shoulder, "... You never were my enemy either!"

Both Amy and Cream now broke down upon seeing the touching, heartfelt reconciliation of the two.

"... Well, I think we all know who the REAL enemy is now..." Sonic growled in a mix of anger and sadness as he picked up the lid of the box and stared at the red pentagram on it; everyone knew whom he was talking about.

"The one who began the Demon-Seedrian War... the one who played Tsali and the Metarex against each other... the one who killed the families of both Tsali and Cosmo... the one who was always behind everything..." Knuckles spoke dramatically.

"... And the one who ordered the deaths of Maria and Gerald..." Shadow added as everyone stared at the pentagram. **_"... Lord Maledict."_**

The black fox and the Seedrian hugged each other even more tightly. This, of course, initially fostered very jealous thoughts in Tails's mind, until he remembered their mutual emotions and their reconciliation. He softened his jealousy somewhat.

All of a sudden, Tsali and Cosmo broke their comforting embrace. Tsali then turned towards the wall; he was not crying anymore, but was simply looking at the ground, as if in deep thought. Without warning, his Dark Emerald flashed into his gloved palm, and he tossed to over shoulder to Cosmo, who caught it.

"Tsali, what are you..." Cosmo began to ask.

"... Cosmo... If you still wish to take revenge on me for killing your family... I won't stop you. Do what you want to me; it doesn't matter anymore..." He spoke in a completely uncaring tone.

He was in for quite a surprise; rather than attack him as Tsali had expected, she suddenly wrapped her arms around him.

"No, Tsali..." Cosmo refused his offer of vengeance as she embraced him tightly, "... Even though I will not forgive you for killing my people and my sisters... I realize now that you are not the one who must apolagize..."

"Cosmo?" Cream asked, unaware of where she was getting to.

"... _I _should be the one who should apolagize... For everything my family did to you... At least we both know who was really responsible for everything..." Cosmo whispered, once again on the verge of tears. For a few moments, Tali stood motionlessly, until he slowly moved away from his former enemy.

"Cosmo, I forgive you for everything your family did... Because now, I see who was truly to blame for this war... There is only one thing any of us can do," Tsali spoke, "I must go and personally make Maledict pay for everything he has done. Satan will suffer... for all the people he killed."

"Wait... **WHAT?"** Everybody else exclaimed.

"Tsali, are you fucking retarded? You of all people should know how strong Maledict is. After all, you've known him for a really long time. We haven't even known him for long, and WE have already seen his power firsthand," Shadow pleaded, the epic battle on the MXS _Tryphon _coming to everybody's minds.

The Ultimate Weapon snapped his head around, glaring at the hedgehog. "What else do YOU suggest we do?"

Nobody answered him.

"Exactly. It is far too late to change everything I have done now... But if I can kill Maledict... I just may be able to redeem everyone who was tricked and killed by his scheming." Tsali then turned towards them, "... The Quadraxis should still be in its repair cycle; thus, you can sneak past it and make your way back to your ship."

"Wait, Tsali, but it's not that simple!" Tails attempted to reason, "The Devil is immortal, his Altus Emerald gives him eternal life! You can't just _kill _him!"

"It doesn't matter anymore, Tails... If it means my own demise, then so be it. I have nothing to lose... and unless I do this, I have no future..." Tsali's Dark Emerald suddenly teleported back into his hand out of a small flash.

"No, don't!..." Amy cried in one final attempt to dissuade him, to no avail.

Tsali promptly vanished in a blue flash of light; he was gone.

"... Damnit! What does he think he's doing?" Shadow asked.

"Well, we found the Emeralds that we had lost. Let's go back to the ship and tell Chris all about this." Knuckles suggested, and everyone agreed.

"Oh, by the way..." Amy suddenly interrupted, "... There was another disk inside that box over there too."

"Another disk?"

"Yeah. I'm wondering about what this one is about, so let's take a look when we get back to the ship." Amy spoke.

"Good idea. We should get out of here while the that... that _THING_ outside is still outta commission."

...

Tsali Z'Charon appeared in a long, dimly-lit corridor. The red-and-brown walls were ornately decorated, almost like the outside of a gothic cathedral.

And roughly twenty feet in front of him was a very large silvery door; the door to Maledict's throne room.

On this door was inscribed a demonic goat head pictured inside a somewhat-skewed red pentagram. Five Demonish numbers, referring to the first five Kommandments in the _Book of Kommandments_, were inlaid on the points of the satanic star. This particular version of the standard Demon pentagram was known as the Sigil of Baphomet, "Baphomet" being one of the ancient Demon pagan gods.

As Tsali marched down the hallway towards the satanic door, his entire life flashbacked before his eyes.

His mind went into a state of slow-motion, his steps echoing loudly off the tiled floor as he recalled everything that had brought him to this fateful moment.

Everything Tsali had done with Maledict - their conversations, their happy moments, their friendship, their games and meetings together - had ebbed away from his mind like a wave; in the course of a few minutes, thirty years of his life had suddenly vanished before his eyes.

Every little thing came to head; his childhood, the invasion of his home, the execution of his sister, the Demon-Seedrian War...

And the spiraling events afterward; the war, Project Tryphon, Tsali's escape, the two bloody weeks that followed, Hertia's nuclear holocaust... Finally, the Metarex Wars themselves, and with it, all the fond memories that Tsali had about his traitorous friend...

Everything was at an end as Tsali Z'Charon marched to his destiny; victory or death.

Before Tsali opened the door, he froze as he suddenly heard three voices converse to each other in Demonish within the throne room beyond.

From their peculiar accents and vocals, he could tell who they were; Maledict, Beelzebub, and Astorath. However, they were speaking in such hushed tones that it was nearly impossible to understand them, though Tsali was fluent in Demonish.

Without hesitation, Tsali stepped right in front of the door, which surprisingly enough, opened up for him immediately, granting him easy passage into the place where the entire Metarex conflict was born; Maledict's throne room.

The Devil was, at the moment that Tsali entered, turned around facing his computer. On the screen of his computer were remote feeds of Beelzebub and Astorath; to Satan's right, Tsali recognized Azazel, Satan's manservant.

The two subordinate Demons focused their surprise attention on him, while Azazel simply turned and stared placidly at the kitsune.

Tsali breathed deeply as he prepared to confront his ultimate enemy. However, his opponent decided cut him to the chase.

"Hello, Tsali." Maledict spoke in a highly cynical, somber tone. Tsali was frankly surprised that Maledict had known he was there.

"Greetings, Maledict... Or should I call you..." Tsali challenged, his voice rising a few notches, **"... _M_?"**

The Devil's two pals looked at Maledict with somewhat distressed expressions, but Satan himself merely closed his eyes and sighed. Azazel glanced at Maledict, but still did not change his face.

"... I was beginning to wonder when you would find the tape." The Evil One said, without any tint of emotion.

"Cosmo knows, too. She and her friends were with me." The two evildoers stared at each other for a few dramatic seconds.

Until Maledict broke the silence. "Personally, I'm glad you found it. It's about time that you and Cosmo figured everything out; it was becoming quite distasteful to keep you two in the dark."

"... You lied to me that Hertia had died in that explosion, but you instead captured her and drove her to commit suicide! YOU really ordered the deaths of my family as part of your pre-war plan!"

The Devil looked away from his former friend, as if he suddenly felt some form of regret, but he did not reply.

"I _know_, Maledict..." Tsali did not give his former friend a chance to speak as he smiled demonically, "It's _so_ much fun to think about what I'm gonna do to you for what YOU have done to myself and every person in my galaxy!"

Satan did not reply; instead, he merely smiled and discreetly pointed to the floor.

Tsali suddenly noticed something underneath him that he hadn't paid attention to before thanks to his speech; a bright red pentacle of Chaos Energy was shining underneath him. His expression dissolved into sudden terror. **"OH SHI-!"**

Instantly, a large, clear red bubble of Chaos Energy appeared around him, nullifying his Chaos abilities and trapping him like a mouse. Tsali attempted to use Altus Control, but it did not work; he had been beaten.

Immediately, several tendrils of Chaos Energy came around his body. With a loud electric growl, bolts of red lightening forcefully siphoned out the Chaos Energy in Tsali's body. The Ultimate Weapon felt burning pain singe his body so much that he was crying out in agony as he was suspended in midair and sucked dry. The Chaos energy bubble began flashing so brightly that it illuminated the whole room.

Eventually, after ten horrible minutes, Maledict vanquished the Chaos Shield that he had placed around Tsali. The jet-black fox buckled to the floor, panting and holding his side as his once-great strength failed him.

Tsali's HUD demonstrated this; his armour and Chaos Energy status bars had been totally drained, and his vulnerable inner systems had been critically damaged.

The Devil paused as he let Tsali wallow around in his own pain before smiling to him.

"... **Your **galaxy? I think you're forgetting one important thing, Tsali," Satan got up out of his throne and went over to the sprawled black fox, kneeling down in front of him to speak.

"... I am _Lord Maledict;_ the Devil, the Evil One, the Tempter, the Accuser, the Enemy. I happen to own your fucking galaxy." His voice suddenly became dangerous. "The Milky Way is mine and mine alone. I can do whatever I damn want with it."

"... What?" Tsali managed to utter.

Maledict glared at him; he didn't wish to pull off another _Pulp Fiction_ like he did with Elise. "It doesn't matter now. You seriously want to know the truth? The truth is, Tsali... I actually regret having to betray you. Do you think I am merely a heartless monster who has no conscience?"

"... Yes, you lying bastard!" Tsali shouted angrily, though he was in no real position to resist.

Maledict rolled his eyes.

"For one thing, I never lied to you, Tsali." He explained, sensing the source of Tsali's rage, "Everything I told you was the truth. Luke did roboticize you on his own free will. And Hertia did technically die in that explosion; I simply brought her back to life without you knowing. Thus, I was not lying to you. I simply..."

The Devil searched for the right term, "... left out some details."

"... **_SOME_** details? **_You're_** the one who tricked Luke into roboticizing me! He wouldn't have suceeded if you hadn't provided him with the technology!" Tsali retorted angrily.

"Tsali... Just admit it already: No matter what _I_ did, you have failed in what _you_ did," Maledict began, changing the subject hurriedly, "You have plunged the entire Milky Way Galaxy into chaos. You have exterminated the Seedrians and you prompted the creation of the Metarex. And yet, in doing all of that, you did not succeed in realizing the truth... What I was planning all along."

Tsali slouched over as despair began taking over; he knew that the Devil was completely right.

"... You're right..." Tsali muttered to himself, "... I ama failure... Everything I did was for nothing... My whole life... was a waste... And all because I listened to you!"

Tsali's heart plunged as everything he had learned over the past half-hour seeped in; his entire life had gone down the drain, and by now, there was no hope of ever salvaging any of it back.

The former Ultimate Weapon bowed his head down and began lightly crying.

"Just... kill me now... Please... end this torment of mine..." Tsali was barely able to hold back in front of the Devil, who smugly grinned.

"Trust me, you do not have to worry about _that_." Maledict spoke, and Tsali immediately looked at him in the eyes in surprise. "... By my order, you have been declared an Enemy of the State, and thus, you have been condemned to death _in absentia_. I have stripped you of your ranks and expelled you from my inner circle. In case you didn't know, I have already revealed the truth to Dark Oak and his friends, and they too have already been arrested. You will be spending your final hours aboard my ship in their company; enjoy them while you still can."

There was a dramatic pause of a few seconds before Maledict snapped his fingers, and instantly, Tsali's body vanished in a red flash as he was teleported into the special cell-block of the DSS _Leviathan_.

_"Hey, wait a second... Why did you do that?"_ Beelzebub inquired. _"You...** are** planning to execute him here in Caronius, are you not? Shouldn't you keep him here where it is safe?"_

"Normally, I would, but he still has one final use to me," Maledict prepared. "... With both him and Dark Oak now in my grasp and facing certain death, Sonic the Hedgehog and the remnants of the Metarex will have no choice but to come and rescue them..."

The Devil's two friends held their breath in a mix of both anticipation and excitement as Satan smiled devilishly and finished his sentence;

"... Just as planned!"

...

Wow... even though that was my longest chapter yet, it oddly didn't take as long to write... (sweatdrop)

Well, either way; enjoy this everybody, and please leave a review, 'kay? I worked really hard on this, and I would like some reviews. Oh, and a happy holidays to everyone, too.


	23. Episode 75: Resurrection of Darkness

And so, here we are; the the moment of truth, the final fight. As a comemoration of my golden 16th birthday, here is the long-awaited next episode of Dark Chaos

...

**Episode 75: Resurrection of Darkness**

As Sonic and his friends advanced through the barren forest back to their ship comprehending everything they had just learned along the way, they noticed that a certain friend of theirs was nearby.

Indeed, parked several hundred feet away from the Typhoon was none other than Eric's distinctive ship, the Dreadnought. Not only that, but Eric and his friends were already waiting for them to return. Chris was standing with them as well.

"Hey, nice to see a friendly face!" Sonic called out to them as he returned to the landing area.

"Yeah, and you're pretty lucky. We almost didn't make it here!" Eric called out as he and his pals met up with Sonic.

"Wait, what?" Knuckles asked as he followed Sonic, unaware of the adventure that Eric and his friends went through.

"_Anoo_... It's a long story." Sonya sweatdropped, not wishing to explain everything.

"That's alright. What are you guys doing here?" Shadow asked as he also appeared, followed by everyone else.

"We were just about to ask you that same thing." Fang replied, "We found Chaos Emerald readings and thought that we had found more Emeralds. Instead, we found you guys."

"Well, I will say one thing..." Cosmo spoke, and everybody looked at her. "... Circumstances have definately changed."

"How so?" Nolan asked.

"... We found a tape underneath an old facility here that revealed everything about Tsali, Cosmo, Maledict, and the Metarex." Trinity came to her side.

"Like what?"

"In other words, we found that Maledict was in fact behind everything all along." Knuckles elaborated further.

"I _knew_ it! I've known it for this _entire_ time! And _none _of you guys believed me!" Sonya angrily shouted, now showing her inherent self. Everybody else sweatdropped.

"That's not totally the case, Sonya-chan," spoke Tails, "We had been thinking the same thing for a while now."

"... Oh."

"But we learned some stuff that we did not know down there too."

"Like what?"

"... Like the fact that Cosmo's mother was actually captured by Maledict, who so consumed her with despair that she committed suicide." Trinity explained. Eric and all of his friends let out small gasps.

"Well... Was there anything else?" Chris asked.

"Oh sure. Like the Devil revealing himself as the secret leader of the Metarex AND also revealing that he was responsible for Tsali's roboticization." Shadow replied in an unusually sarcastic manner.

There was a short pause.

"... In other words, our worst fears have been realized." Trinity spoke up.

"Hey, hold on!" Chase suddenly interrupted, "If Tsali was with you, where is he now?"

"... He went off to go get revenge on Maledict." Knuckles explained.

"Revenge? On _Maledict_?" Sonya raised her eyebrows in surprise, remembering what happened between her and the Devil during their fight on the _Tryphon_.

"Yeah, don't ask. We don't know what gave him the idea that he could win." Amy also replied with a sweatdrop.

Nobody was able to reply, because within that moment, a loud screech from the sky suddenly echoed around the area, drawing everyones' attention upward. A tiny blue figure was plummeting down towards them at very high speeds.

"Hey wait a sec! That's..." Knuckles began to exclam mere seconds before a familiar small blue Eggman robot slammed into the ground and skidded into several trees, leaving a small crater in his landing path.

Eric and Sonic promptly ran over to help Bokkun to his feet; he was coughing loudly, his body covered with dust and scratches.

"Bokkun! Are you okay? What's going on?" Tails asked.

At first, Bokkun was attempting to catch his breath and his energy before speaking. "... L-L-Lord M-Maledict... He..."

"What? What did Satan do, Bokkun?" Eric asked.

"... Tsali, the Metarex leaders, and Dr. Eggman have been taken prisoner! He's gonna execute all of them!" Everyone gasped dramatically.

"Damn! I knew something like this would happen to Tsali..." Shadow swore to himself.

"I managed to escape the Demons sent to find me. I was able to bring one of my TVs so we could talk to them." Bokkun spoke, still obviously exhausted.

"We could use one of those to watch this second disk that we found, so let's look at this. I'm curious as to what secrets this has to tell." Amy commented, taking out the second disk that she had found in the Vault.

...

Minutes later, Sonic and his friends were clustered around a small television set held up by Bokkun.

And at that point in time, Amy immediately regretted her curiosity about the contents of the disk as she saw the slow torture of her old friend from Soleanna.

_"'What ain't no planet I ever heard of! Do they speak Basic on 'What'?"_

The recording showed Maledict instantly slam-kicking her maidenhood, resulting in an extremely loud cracking sound. Knuckles, Eric, Sonic, Shadow, and Fang simply winced and shrugged, while all the girls gasped loudly as they heard the resulting high-pitched screech

**_"BASIC, MOTHERFUCKER! DO YOU SPEAK IT?"_** The Evil One completely lost it and snapped at her.

_"... Now, describe what Sonic the Hedgehog looks like!"_

All of our heroes were simply transfixed by the horrifying scene that was playing out before them. Sonic in particular was shocked, both because of his friendship with Elise and the fact that Maledict was pertaining his question to him.

She recited what he looked like, before the Devil interrupted again.

**_"DOES HE LOOK LIKE A BITCH?"_**

Elise only said a single nearly-silent word before one of her arms was grusomely amputated on-screen, blood spattering everywhere.

"GAAH!" Amy, Cream, and Sonya screamed in surprise.

"Holy shit!" Mighty, Nolan, Brian, and Knuckles exclaimed.

The rest of the video played on from there, with Maledict asking the nearly-dead Elise if she had ever read the _Book of Kommandments _before he began reciting a dramatic quote from it. However, Maledict then turned as he finished saying his quote, and he thrust his palm towards her.

And with a loud cry in an unknown language from Elise, the young princess was no more; with his powers, Maledict sliced her entire body in two, all of her bones and organs splattering on the floor, with some drops of blood even getting on the lens of the camera used during the recording.

The next few moments were Astorath, Beelzebub, Maledict, and the chained Eggman talking, before the recording mercifully ended.

The bridge of the Typhoon was completely dead-silent in the wake of this horrible fate. Amy promptly began bawling loudly at the horrific death of her friend.

Sonic himself was also getting slightly teary eyed, while everybody else either attempted to hold back strings of vomit or simply turned away and tried desperately to not recall the repulsive, unwatchable sight.

The only notable exceptions were Sonya, who was desperately fighting back tears in order to keep her normal composure, and Chase, who was simply staring at the TV like he was traumatized for life.

"Oh my god, Elise! Please no!" The pink hedgehog wailed as she bawwwwwwed her eyes out. Sonic took her in his arms as he comforted the normally-happy and cheerful girl.

"Amy, it's alright... Please..." Sonic talked gently, trying to keep himself from collapsing as well.

**"... NO!"** She screamed loudly, grabbing Sonic and chucking him backwards, her expression now of crazed ferocity directed at the very hedgehog who killed her.

"**MALEDICT, YOU MOTHERFUCKER! I SWEAR TO GOD YOU WILL FUCKING PAY! I WILL RIP YOU TO PIECES, AND**... and..." She was too tired and upset to keep screaming longer. She panted as she calmed herself and regained her normal composure.

"Maledict... that bastard..." Knuckles growled.

"He'll pay for killing Maria and Gerald, too!" Shadow agreed.

"... Maledict will pay for _everything_ he has done!" Sonya stepped forward and declared like a true hero.

"Yeah!" Knuckles, Shadow, Trinity, and Fang cheered, affirming their new oath.

In the meantime, however, Bokkun was attempting to reroute a signal to Eggman through the receptors on his television set.

As if on cue, the image of Tsali Z'Charon and the Metarex leaders in a large cell sourrounded by a crimson shield of pure Chaos Energy suddenly popped into view among static.

"Got it!" Bokkun jubilantly cheered.

Tsali was standing still in front of the screen, while the Metarex leaders sat around in the back. They all still had their power suits on, but they didn't have their helmets, revealing their male Seedrian features. In addition, Eggman and his two robot assistants Decoe and Becoe also sat with them.

_"Here we go! Tails, are you there?"_

"Roger that, Tsali." Tails said with a small smile.

_"Tsali, did you get Sonic and his friends on the line?" _The Metarex leader Luke spoke.

_"Yep. They're right here." _Tsali turned around to him. The former Dark Oak walked up next to the screen.

_"Lord Maledict has imprisoned us on board his flagship, the DSS Leviathan. He is moving with a huge escorting fleet towards galactic coordinates (0, 0, 0). I still have my Doma Emerald and Tsali still has his Altus Emerald, but the Devil has put a Chaos Shield over our cell to prevent us from breaking through these bars or teleporting out of here."_

"Why is Maledict moving his fleet?"

_"I'm not totally sure, but from what I've been able to find out, at that location, there is a large interdimensional portal cluster that can transport objects to the very edges of the Universe. Maledict is planning on using them to transport both him and his fleet all the way to Planet Hell in a single Warpspace jump, for the Warpspace drivers on his ships are not strong enough to go there in a single jump. If he manages to make the jump to Warpspace... we're doomed. There is no way you would be able to help us then; he would have way too many ships on call for you to ever defeat." _Tsali explained.

_"But all hope is not lost. I was able to manually communicate with what remains of our Metarex military, and I have ordered them to support you. The entire Metarex Fleet is now hereby at your disposal."_ Luke assured.

"Thanks man!" Eric thanked him.

"Hold on for a moment... How many ships are actually left in your fleet?" Amy asked.

Both Luke and Tsali simply glanced at each other apprehensively.

_"Uhh... about two hundred capital ships. Which isn't much, considering that you will be facing countless thousands of Demon ships."_

"Oh." There was an awkward pause.

_"You are our last hope. We know that you are the only ones who can get us out of here and stop Satan." _Eggman suddenly stood up and spoke.

_"I have sent the remaining Metarex into orbit around Seedrius. They will join you on orbit when you leave the planet." _Luke spoke.

"Alright."

_"Godspeed to you and your companions, Sonic the Hedgehog." _Dark Oak finished and bowed respectfully. The television shut off.

Bokkun suddenly popped up from behind the set. "I was able to escape just before they were captured." Bokkun explained his flight.

"It's time to get going. Chris, warm up the engines! We got some new friends to save." Tails ordered.

"Okay guys... this is our chance to finally confront Maledict directly. Now, let us show him that he will not go scott-free after all the death and terror he has caused!" Sonic declared. Everybody cheered enthusiastically.

"C'mon niggas, let's get goin'!" Eric called as he left to go back onto his ship, followed by all of his crewmembers.

...

Meanwhile, near the center of the Milky Way Galaxy, what appeared to be a swarm of insects floated in the vacuum of space. But these weren't insects. They were countless Demon ships.

Smack-dab in the center of this epicly huge fleet was the same ship that Maledict had used throughout the Metarex Wars; the DSS _Leviathan _itself. Fighters from the various carrriers inthe fleet buzzed around the ship in their prearranged patrol routes.

The Devil himself, at that time, was seated in his royal chair on the bridge of the ship. Next to him sat the newly-promoted Admiral D'Arnazhee, who had proved himself in Satan's eyes.

"Admiral! ETA to Warpspace portal appearence?" Satan turned and asked.

"About 4 hours." D'Arnazhee replied.

Astorath and Beelzebub themselves were not on the _Leviathan_. Instead, they were commanding their own flagships flanking the _Leviathan_; the _Indomitable_ on the right and the _Stinger_ on the left.

Maledict breathed in deeply as he sensed the coming arrival of the Blue Typhoon, along with their new Metarex allies. As such he went over the plan.

The plan for the final battle went as follows; while the _Leviathan _waited for the Warpspace flux to open, the rest of the fleet would form a defensive wall before the Typhoon and the Metarex fleet, keeping up a constant bombardment with their weaponry. Led by Beelzebub and Astorath, an elite plethora of zero-grav kommandos would then land on the Metarex ships and sabotage their most powerful fleet elements, while Beelzebub and Astorath themselves would get the honour of taking on the Typhoon itself. If the kommandos failed, Maledict would use the hidden superlaser equipped on the _Leviathan_ to finish the job.

Then, he would take both Luke and Tsali to Caronius and have them publicly executed. However, Maledict would secretly order Tsali's body brought to him, where it would be reprogrammed to serve the Devil mindlessly, eliminating both the Metarex problem and the problem of Tsali in a single swoop.

It was a win-win situation. The public execution of Luke and friends would boost the loyalty of the Demon subjects exhausted of the Metarex Wars, and Maledict himself would now finally have his long-awaited Ultimate Weapon to unleash on the Angel Federation.

As he finished his thoughts, the Devil stood from his chair and opened his cross-channel COMlink, hooking his voice up to every ship in his fleet.

...

As Tsali, the Metarex leaders, and Dr. Robotnik sat like bumps on a log in their cell, the intercom located in the ceiling suddenly turned on with an emphatic "ping".

_"This is Lord Maledict, your God almighty. May I have your attention for a quick moment before we end this war?"_

"Oh, here he goes again, ranting about our conspiracy to destroy the galaxy..." Tsali muttered apathetically rolling his eyes. Red Pine and Yellow Zelkova nodded in agreement.

_"Gentlemen... I know very well that nearly all of you have faced off against the Metarex at least once in your careers. For three decades, the Metarex have terrorized the Milky Way in an insane attempt for revenge of the destruction of the Seedrian race. They have ravaged whole planets and exterminated whole populations." _

_"Opposing them was Tsali Z'Charon, a rogue Seedrian experiment whose crimes are even more numerous and heinous than the crimes of his enemies. He is equally, if not moreso, as guilty of trying to destroy the Milky Way Galaxy."_

_"For years, I have lived hearing the cries of my murdered subjects for vengeance against these creatures, and I am now here today with you all to fufill their revenge. When this Empire was first formed, I swore to let justice and peace reign over all. Today, I come in the name of justice and benevolence to end this conflict once and for all!"_

"Yadayadayada, could you shut the fuck up now?" The Ultimate Weapon randomly shouted at the ceiling. Eggman just yawned and sat back, apparently exhausted.

_"Soon, gentlemen, the crew of the Blue Typhoon and the remaining Metarex rebels will come and attempt to prolong the end of this conflict. They will attempt to extract Tsali and the Metarex leaders so that they can fight even more and slaughter more innocent people. But if we win and get through the Warpspace flux in time, we will have claimed victory, and the war will be over. Once we are all back home, the prisoners shall be executed for high treason and crimes against the peace."_

Though they could not hear everything, all of the former villains were sure that all the Demon crew members of the Demon fleet were cheering wildly, hoping to see their hated enemies be executed.

"But, wait a second... what will he do to you guys?" Zelkova pointed to Robotnik and his two robots.

The chubby evil genius sat up. "Castration." He spoke only a single word before slouching back. Bay Leaf, Pine, and Narcissus winced at the thought of losing their genitalia.

_"I now ask all of you to stand behind me in the name of goodwill and benevolence to mercilessly annihilate our remaining opponents. Victory **will** be ours!" _The intercom shut off and stayed silent.

"Finally, you gay fag..." Tsali muttered again as he sat on the floor.

"Don't waste your energy, Tsali. We'll need plenty of it, if Sonic and his friends manage to free us." Becoe spoke suddenly.

"Yeah, _if_." Tsali retorted.

"This isn't like you, Tsali. I thought that you were all-powerful and stuff like that." Eggman questioned.

"Well, yeah, so what?" Tsali replied.

"If that's the case, why were Sonic, Shadow, and Eric able to beat you on the MXS _Tryphon _so easily?"

Tsali turned to Eggman and rolled his eyes.

"Look Robotnik, that little fight was a fluke. I was not expecting their opening attack, nor did I anticipate their actual strength They surprised me, that's all. If I had been prepared, I know I would've easily beaten them that day." The Ultimate Weapon replied.

"Yeah yeah, whatever you say..." Luke came into the conversation.

"Suck my balls, you fucking prick. You weren't even there, so you wouldn't know." Tsali waved a finger at his former nemesis.

"Well, let's stop this petty bickering and just hope that Sonic and his friends are on their way." Narcissus broke the two of them up.

...

As the Blue Typhoon rose up into the atmosphere of Planet Seedrius, Chris noticed numerous signals appearing on their radar.

"Those must be the remaining Metarex ships." Sonic commented.

Sure enough, in front of the Typhoon was what appeared to be a group of ships. The central one looked similar to the Metarex battleships, except several times the size of the Typhoon, along with being absolutely covered with cannon turrets. The others were much smaller, but still looked very powerful.

Without warning, the image feed suddenly snapped on, and what looked like a tall Metarex with cobalt-hued sapphire power armour. Before he spoke a word, he took off his helmet, revealing a Seedrian with skin that was slightly tinted blue.

_"Greetings, Sonic the Hedgehog. I am Blue Spore, although you can call me by my birtyh name Quinn. I am a colonel of the Metarex and Dark Oak's personal military attache, and I managed to escape before the Demons captured my comrades. Luke has ordered me to aid you in your upcoming fight."_

"Yep. Luke said you would be joining us." Sonic replied to this introduction.

_"You don't have to worry about the remaining Chaos Emeralds. My fleet has managed to track down the last ones still missing that are not in Demon hands."_

"Great, 'cause we're gonna need all the firepower and Chaos Energy we can muster." Chris spoke.

_"Miles Prower, we are now under your command. You are now the Grand Admiral of the Metarex. We all are now your servants."_ Spore spoke, bowing slightly.

"Wait a second.. Me?" Tails asked.

_"Yes. You are the captain of the Blue Typhoon, and since we are following you, you are now our leader." _Spore explained.

"Interesting how that works, eh, Tails?" Eric nudged the kitsune slightly, chuckling slightly.

Tails simply slumped backwards in his chair slightly, comprehending his responsibility. "Fine then. I'll command you guys, but I've never done this before." The kitsune accepted their proposal, trying his hardest not to show his massive apprehension.

Without another word, Blue Spore's camera shut off. Suddenly, Tails jumped up from his chair and ran out of the bridge in frustration.

"Tails, wait!" Cosmo chased after him. She left the others staring silently in her wake.

"... Wonder what that was all about." Amy shrugged.

Eric came forward. "I'm gonna get back onto my ship. The rest of my buds are all there, and we could be a big help, so we'll stick with you guys for this one. Chaos Control!" In a green flash, the green hedgehog vanished.

...

"Tails, wait for a moment!" As Cosmo was running after Tails, the young kitsune slowed down to a walk, letting Cosmo catch up to him.

"How the hell am I gonna lead an entire fleet to victory against the worst enemy we've ever faced?" Tails shouted without turning to face his lover.

"Tails... I know that this is a huge responsibility and I know that it might seem overwhelming, but do not forget the things you have already done since we first left your planet."

"Like what?" Tails loosened his grouchy voice as Cosmo's soothing voice calmed him down, turning to face her.

"You've piloted your own ship through harrowing odds even worse than this. You have saved my life constantly, along with the lives of your friends. You fought the Devil himself, and survived to tell the tale. I can't even begin to name the things you have done for all of us. You are truly our hero." Cosmo spoke words of assurance.

Tails slowly turned around, listening to her intently. Cosmo took a few steps towards him, until she was directly in his face, and took his hands in hers.

"... I love you, Tails, and I know that together we can do this." All of a sudden, she gave him a quick kiss. "If for nothing else... do this for me."

Tails sighed, before locking eyes with his true love. The two young lovers smiled at each other.

"I... You're... You're right, Cosmo. I have to do this." Tails spoke with untold determination. "Time to save our friends."

...

"My lord, we are detecting numerous Warpspace signals approaching the front of our fleet. Shall I ready battlestations?" Admiral D'Arnazhee spoke to his ruler.

"It is time. All ships, this is Lord Maledict. Fleet at battlestations!" Maledict barked.

At that moment, the Devil saw a single Warpspace portal open up, and the familiar guise of the Blue Typhoon appeared out of it. Next to it, another Warpspace portal also appeared; the Dreadnought emerged from this portal.

A few seconds behind them, many more Warpspace portals appeared, and out of them came numerous Metarex battleships taking the rear of the Typhoon and the Dreadnought.

"And so, the end begins..." Maledict muttered cryptically, a feeling inside of him telling that this was gonna be huge.

"They are in range. Shall we proceed with the attack, my lord?" His admiral asked.

Maledict wordlessly held up his finger towards the Admiral in interruption as he connected to the comlinks of the Blue Typhoon and the opposing fleet.

"... Do it."

"Yes, Zir. All ships, commence Operation Supernova!" D'Arnazhee ordered.

Beelzebub, upon hearing Satan's kommand, immediately teleported out of the bridge.

_"Kill dem all!"_ Before leaving, Astorath took out a portable radio, barked through it, and then followed his wasp/fly komrade.

Elsewhere, on the other ships of the Demon fleet, squads of armoured SpecOps Hell Knight Kommandos, wearing special zero-grav combat suits and armed with the latest Demon weaponry, propelled themselves off the hulls and zoomed towards the Metarex fleet using small jetpacks equipped to their suits.

...

Eric's face appeared on the viewscreen. _"Tails! I have detected thousands of Demon Kommandos approaching the fleet, and Beelzebub and Astorath are closing in directly at your ship. ETA three minutes."_

"Knuckles, Rouge! Get onto the flight deck and intercept those two Demon leaders." Tails turned and told the two treasure-obsessed mammals. They promptly left the bridge in haste.

Tails then turned to his left. "Amy, Cream, and Chris, I need you three to get into your fighters and see if you can help our Metarex friends against those Demon soldiers."

"Got it!" Amy gave him a thumbs up. All three of them left the bridge. "Eric! Teleport in here."

"Sonya-chan, take care of the ship!" With that, Eric instantly vanished, and reappeared a few feet behind Tails.

"I need you and Trinity to fly to the _Leviathan_, inflitrate the ship, and free our trapped comrades. In the meantime, have the rest of your crew defend the Metarex fleet." Tails ordered.

"Yes, sir!" Eric promptly snapped a mock salute before vanishing once again.

"Tails?" Cosmo's voice all of a sudden rang from beside him, snapping him out of his ordering.

"Uhhh... Yeah?" Tails asked.

"Is there anything you need me to do?"

"Not right now, but stay here. I might need you for something." Tails explained.

...

All around the Typhoon, the epic battle had been joined.

Demon zero-grav soldiers had began landing and latching on to the hulls of the Metarex ships, drilling through their armour with plasma blowtorches. In reply, numerous flying robot Metarex emerged to stop them, leading into an all-out zero-gravity infantry war dominating the landscape. On occasion, laser and plasma blasts hit the deck of the Typhoon, leaving black scorch marks.

In addition, at this moment, the two fleets had also begun firing at each other with their main weaponry; plasma blasts and heavy turbolasers crisscrossed everywhere in the space between the two sides as the Demons and Metarex slugged it out like a boxing match; generally, chaos reigned all about.

As the duo of Knuckles and Rouge dashed onto the front landing deck of the Typhoon, they had an unpleasent surprise greeting them; the second they stepped into view, none other than Beelzebub and Astorath landed meters ahead of them with loud thuds against the hull. In particular, Astorath's landing actually caused a large crack in the hull thanks to his sheer girth and size.

Astorath's miniguns appeared in his hands and a squadron of Metarex robots came around him and fired. Their laser blasts hit him, bu Astorath didn't feel anything from them. Rather, he aimed his multi-barreled cannons of death and opened up, incinerating everything in sight.

"Yatatatatatatata yatatatatatata dobadobabodoba... KABOOM!" He impersonated the sound of his miniguns with his voice. That was when the two Demons noticed Knuckles and Rouge at the far end of the flight deck. "More rubble, less trouble!" Suddenly, the enormous humanoid noticed Rouge and Knuckles in front of him. He thus holstered his two miniguns.

"Oh look, it's de little BABIES again!" Astorath pointed at Knuckles and Rouge contemptuously. With a smooth yet heavy swing, he pulled a giant goldon mace that had been slung over his back with his traditional dual gatling miniguns.

"Hey, what the... who are you calling babies?" Knuckles screamed at him in sudden rage.

"Both of you, that's who." Beelzebub promptly took out a fudge bar from out of nowhere and devoured it. Astorath laughed at his rival's comment as the overgrown insect drew the two spiked chakrams grafted onto his arms.

"Do you think I would forget YOU, echidna? NO! You I do not forget!" The Prince of Darkness taunted.

Before either of them could move, however, they were interrupted from their banter by a laser blast impacting Beelzebub in the back. He fluttered forward in a slight stagger. As it turned out, Amy's starfighter flew by momentarily; she had shot Beelzebub when he wasn't looking.

"Gah... Shit! Astorath, you can have them. I got some even better targets." With that, Beelzebub sped after Amy's starfighter like a hummingbird.

"Okay Astorath, now it's just you and me." Knuckles shouted, forgetting that Rouge was also with him.

"Ahem!" Rouge interrupted.

"Well... and her." Knuckles added in haste, pointing at the bat girl.

"... Little little echidna. I AM KOMMING FOR YOU!" With that, Astorath took a blind swing at Knuckles, who jumped out of the way the moment he saw Astorath move. Rouge jumped out of the way as well.

A milisecond later, the spot where Knuckles had been standing a moment ago had been totally crushed by the sheer physical might of the Prince of Darkness.

"Screw Kick!" Rouge shouted while she was in the air. Using the force of her body in zero-g, she began spinning horizontally as she began a flying kick at the Demon lord.

Of course, being an expert treasure hunter, her aim was true, hitting the Prince of Darkness right smack-dab on the back of his massive muscle-rippling neck. However, her attack simply bounced off his car-sized muscles like she hadn't done anything at all.

"We can't just attack him one at a time. Rouge, give me your hand right now!" Knuckles yelled.

"My hand? What an odd time to get romantic..." Rouge replied. Knuckles obviously ignored her, because he grabbed her hand and started spinning around in a circle, taking Rouge with him.

After spinning for a few seconds, he then let go of the treasure-hunter, who shot forward and hit the Prince of Darkness square in his enormously buff chest. A bad place to hit him; Rouge simply bounced off his naturally-armored muscles and skidded back onto the deck of the Typhoon. Astorath did not even flinch.

However, he promptly vanished in an orange teleportation flash, appearing right in front of Knuckles. Before the Guardian could dodge, the mighty Hell Knight leader lunged and grabbed him in his computer-sized fist.

The red echidna struggled desperately but uselessly against the vice-like fist of Astorath, who chuckled as he saw Knuckles attempt to squirm his way out of the humanoid's fingers.

"I should have done this LONG ago!" The enormous humanoid growled. Grabbing the echidna even more tightly in his fist, he raised his arm up and slammed Knuckles right into the metal flight deck like the Hulk, leaving a large crack from the impact.

The now-pummeled Knuckles weakly tried to get up; Astorath was far stronger than any opponent he had ever fought. The mighty Prince of Darkness stood menacingly over his defeated enemy, a triumphant smile over his toothy mouth.

"You are dead; not big surprise!" Astorath spoke as he raised his massive leg up; he was preparing to literally step on and crush Knuckles underfoot. He would have done so, had Rouge not bolted in front of his face and interrupted him with a swift kick to the cheek.

The Prince of Darkness staggered backwards from the blow; his small head was his primary weak point, and Rouge had exploited it.

...

Meanwhile, Beelzebub was having troubles of his own. Despite his speed and agility, he had the inconvenience of having to fight Sonic, Cream, Amy, and Chris all at the same time.

For the umpteenth time in only a few minutes, Sonic had spindashed Beelzebub once again, followed by fighter attacks by Amy, Cream, and Chris. His body was beginning to hurt, and his giant stinger didn't have the chance to hit any of these lightning-fast foes.

But that was before an unbelievably awesome idea came to his head.

With all the strength he could muster, he fluttered back onto the flight deck of the Typhoon.

"Why are you here? I'll kill dem." Astorath asked him, turning around.

"Let me handle all of this." Beelzebub vaguely stated. However, Astorath now realized what he was going to do; he simply smiled and stepped out of the way.

Extending his right arm, an insanely cool guitar made almost entirely out of rubies appeared from out of nowhere.

"What the hell..." Knuckles recoiled back in surprise from the Lord of Flies's resulting evil grin.

"Now, you stupid treasure bitches... FEEL THE POWER OF WROCK!" Beelzebub shouted, preparing his guitar.

Th Demon leader screamed at the top of his lungs as he stroked his guitar. His rockin' was so insanely loud and so epicly awesome that three small Metarex ships literally shattered into pieces from the sheer might of the Ruler of Rock. All of the Metarex robots in an immediate radius around the Typhoon spontaneously combusted from the awesomeness.

In fact, the sound waves that resulted were so large that Maledict could actually see them from several billion kilometers away in his ship, along with hearing the music, of course.

Instead of being obliterated, Knuckles and Rouge had been blown right off of the deck into space as if they had been carried off by a strong wind, and the fighters that our heroes were piloting began vibrating and temporarily losing their control.

However, Chris and Amy managed to regain control of their craft and the two wayward treasure hunters safely.

Finally, after an eternity of screaming randomly, Beelzebub finally stopped, panting heavily on the ground.

"Dat is why you do not try to use de katszenchen out here in space, ja?" Astorath told him like a father lecturing his child.

"Don't... even... start." Beelzebub panted as he got back up.

...

As the fighting around the Metarex fleet came to a climax in the aftermath of Beelzebub's rock attack, Eric and Trinity stealthily flew out of the aft Dreadnought hanger in his Eric Dreadnought 3 stealth jet and went on a collision course with the Demon fleet.

"Holy shit.. I cannot believe we are doing this..." Trinity fretted from the back seat.

"Don't sweat it man. I got a little surprise for them." Eric spoke, as a green button rose directly in front of him. Without further ado, Eric punched it, making a satisfying ping. Initially, nothing appeared to have changed.

"What did you just do?" Trinity asked.

"I activated our cloaking device. With it, we can crash-land right through the hanger of that ship without anybody expecting it."

"Oh." With that, Trinity sealed his lips for the time being.

The massively armed attack jet soon closed in on the _Leviathan _without any delay from the Demon fleet. For the few seconds that Eric and Trinity were close to it, both of them were awed and marvelled by the sheer size and grandeur of Maledict's flagship, but as they got close to the hanger, they snapped out of it and prepared to move.

Suddenly, to Trinity's surprise, the glass of the two cockpit seats both opened up.

"Jump out of the plane on my mark!" Eric called as they closed in on the black hanger bay. Trinity nodded and readied himself.

"Three..."

The ship passed through the hanger force field.

"Two..."

The ship flew through the hanger expanse, almost hitting the ceiling.

"One..."

The ship was second away from impacting the wall.

**"JUMP!"**

With that, the green hedgehog and white fox leaped with all their might out of the plane, both of them landing gracefully on the shiny floor.

Momentarily, their jet slammed into the wall with a mighty _crash!,_ exploding in a cloud of fire and ripping a gigantic hole in the wall. The in-ship alarms started ringing obnoxiously throughout the ship.

"Time to find Tsali and the rest of those guys."

With that, the two heroes sprinted into the depths of the _Leviathan_.

...

While Eric and Trinity were out rescuing the former villians, Tails and his fleet were slowly losing the fight. The seemingly infinate horde of elite black-armoured Demon troopers had caught them by surprise and deprived them of most of their heavy weapons.

Not only that, but along with numbers, they were also extremely skilled and courageous both individually and working in teams.

The Demon kommandos had already disabled ten Metarex ships beyond repair and damaged six others, four of them heavily. Not including the obliteration of countless Metarex robots, of course.

As Knuckles and Rouge fought off Astorath and Beelzebub, Cream, Chris, and Amy were meanwhile busy with attempting to keep the various platoons of Kommandos from latching on and sabotaging the hull of the Typhoon, blasting them off of the hulls into space.

...

The duo of Eric and Trinity entered the maximum-security cell block of the _Leviathan_, which was totally empty except for the very cell that they had been looking for.

"Eric! Trinity! You guys made it." Tsali exclaimed. "Deactivate this Chaos Shield around the cell. There's a panel on that wall."

Eric ran over to the panel, quickly looking over it. There was a major problem with that suggestion.

"Umm... Umm... Tsali... This whole control panel is in Demonish! I can't read it!" He cried.

"I can." Trinity interjected, pushing Eric out of the way. With the push of a few buttons, the red bubble faded from existence.

Dark Oak stood tall, unsheathing his golden metal sword. With a single slash, the Demon alloy-made bars of the cell were sliced to pieces. They were finally free; everybody inside the crowded cell scrambled out.

"Awesome job, Trinity." Suddenly, Tsali began to walk away towards the door.

"Trinity! Luke! I know you both have a score to settle with Maledict as much as I do. Come with me." Tsali called them to his side.

Without hesitation, Luke and Trinity joined Tsali as he disappeared out of the door.

"The rest of you! We gotta find the main reactor and shut it down. If we can, we should sabotage the ship before we get out of here." Eric rallied the rest of the former villians, and they also left the cell block.

...

Maledict stood up, grim determination on his face as he watched the epic fight between his own fleet and his enemies.

"Any report on casualties?" He asked D'Arnazhee, standing next to him.

"Unfortunately, no." The Admiral replied.

Before Maledict could say anything else, both Beelzebub and Astorath teleported into the bridge only a few feet from the Devil.

"My lord! Eric and Trinity sneaked aboard and set Tsali and the Metarex leaders free! Tsali, Oak, and Trinity are heading this way as we speak. Eric and the others are moving to the main reactor. What are your orders?" Beelzebub asked.

There was a pause. "Jettison the sections where they curently are. They must not be allowed to sabotage the Warp Drive."

"Yes, _zir_!" The two Demon leaders vanished.

...

As Tsali, Trinity, and Luke all ran down the corridor, they suddenly felt the entire ship vibrate as the floor began to break off at some points.

"Shit! They're ejecting this section of the ship!" Tsali cried out.

There was little they could do, because within seconds, they were already floating out in space. Eric and the others soon joined them, standing on a piece of the jettisoned hull.

"So, you guys got ejected too?" Trinity asked them. Eric simply nodded in reply as the hull piece floated farther and farther away from Satan's flagship. It actually had begun floating towards the Blue Typhoon, fortunately enough for them.

Within seconds of clearing the radius of the _Leviathan_, Amy's starfighter came around and took Eric and Trinity back to the Typhoon. Cream took Dark Oak and the other Metarex leaders, while Chris took Tsali after them.

...

On the bridge of the Laviathan, Maledict sighed as he saw his quarry escape.

"Zir, we are getting a comms request from the Blue Typhoon." A nearby crew member reported.

"Perhaps they have decided to surrender. Patch them in, and also tell Astorath, Beelzebub, and my Kommandos to get back here." The Devil ordered. Within only about a minute, the two subordinate Demons appeared beside Satan.

Behind Maledict's back, however, D'Arnazhee suddenly brandished his pistol and loaded it, putting it back into his uniform holster before anybody saw him do it...

...

Promptly, from the crowded bridge of the Blue Typhoon in addition to the other ships in Tails's fleet, the emotionless visage of Lord Maledict appeared, simply looking placidly at all of his enemies.

Everybody had then noticed something; the ferocious space battle outside had come to a sudden halt, and the surviving SpecOps Kommandos were were pulling back to their home fleet to regroup. In addition, both the Demon and the Metarex fleet ceased their bombardment.

**"Maledict!"** Everybody of the Typhoon's bridge exclaimed in anger. Amy growled at him in rage, while Shadow did the same for remembering that this was the same tyrant who killed his beloved Maria.

However, nobody offered to stand up before the Evil One, until Cosmo suddenly took several steps forward until she was in front of her whole gang.

"... Cosmo?" Luke the Seedrian asked in surprised as his daughter courageously stepped forward to challenge the Devil.

"... It's okay, Father. I have some things I want to say." Cosmo asked to her dad, who gave a hesitant nod of approval. Tsali, who was standing right beside his former archnemesis, simply stared at the young Seedrian blankly.

Cosmo closed her eyes as Satan's attention fell upon her, before clearing her throat and speaking.

"... My entire family and nearly my whole species is gone. Tsali's life has been ruined, and this galaxy has come to the brink of annihilation. And who can we blame for it all?" Cosmo narrowed her eyes at the Devil, who did not reply.

"... You, Maledict," Cosmo kept speaking, "You ordered the deaths of Tsali's family, as the beginning of your plot, and then you engineered a war against the Seedrians as well."

"Billions of my race - including the majority of my relatives - were killed in the fighting, and my homeworld was devastated. And under your influence, using Demon technology, my father began building the Ultimate Weapon in an attempt to end the war. In the process, he turned Tsali into a robot, and in return, Tsali desired vengeance, spilling into the Metarex Wars."

"At the same time, you were simultaneously deceiving my father and his friends as well; by creating your M alter-ego, you secretly had the loyalty of the Metarex behind you. The whole time, you played Tsali, the Metarex, and even your own Demon soldiers against each other!"

Every Demon on the bridge other than Maledict, including the formerly-loyal Admiral D'Arnazhee, promptly turned and focused their shocked attention on Maledict; only Beelzebub and Astorath knew anything of this.

"Knowing that you could use Tsali's own anger to your ends, you tricked him into following you every order, in the hope that you could use him to take over the universe once the Metarex was destroyed!" Cosmo's voice suddenly came up a slight notch. "... I'm not entirely sure, _Lord _Maledict, that you understand how much suffering and destruction you unleashed upon your own people!"

When Maledict did not reply - or do anything, really - Cosmo's voice suddenly rose into a furious pitch. She felt Hertia's spirit guiding her words and protecting her.

"Don't you just _stare_ at me, you bastard!" She shouted at the black hedgehog, "Admit what you have done! Say to all of your troops who the real beginner of this so-called rebellion is!"

"Cosmo..." Amy stuttered, and all of Cosmo's other friends, along with Tsali and Luke, were staring at her speechless.

However, the Seedrian had one more thing to say; "... You are certainly the Devil; the most evil, despicable monster who has ever lived... And let the restless ghost of my mother above be witness to your defeat!" Cosmo finished dramatically, pointing at her enemy.

Maledict slowly hunched over, until he had hidden his face downward. For what seemed like an hour, there was total silence; the only noise of any note was the hum of the controls on the Typhoon's bridge.

That was when a quiet series of breaths came from Maledict, still hunched over. Eventually, it grew louder and louder, until it sounded like...

... Giggling...

And indeed, as the Devil's psychotic mumbling became louder, it was obvious that it in fact was giggling.

Satan took a very deep breath as he straightened himself, still giggling. He promptly raised his head up, his eyes glowing red. And he then did the thing that nobody - not even any of the Demons - expected him to do...

His fanged mouth opened wide and let out the most maniacal, nutjob-worthy pathological laugh ever heard. It was as if he had been storing all that stress, sadness, anger, and malevolent satisfaction for decades until it had now become too much for even him to suppress.

Lord Maledict had finally snapped.

Sonic, along with all of his friends, had heard many evil laughs thanks to the many servants of Maledict they had fought, but none of them could have ever truly compared to the pure evil and insanity that the Devil was now showing before their very eyes.

While all of our heroes and the Metarex simply stared at him in complete speechlessness, even the Demons were afraid. Beelzebub and Astorath cowered slightly and slowly backed away from Satan in repressed terror as their demented master kept up his insane guffawing.

For what seemed like ten minutes, the now-snapped Demon leader stood there and laughed hysterically like a complete nutjob; Tails in particular was surprised that he didn't suffocate from lack of air.

Finally, Maledict quietened down, until his laugh had once again been reduced to a giggle, before becoming completely silent as he once again hunched over.

"... That's right, Cosmo... Whatcha gonna do about it now? Kill me here, just like I killed your mother?" Maledict finally turned and looked her straight in the eye as he gave her a psychotic smile.

Cosmo, along with all of her friends and comrades, could clearly see the madness emanating from his eyes.

"... In the Universe you live in today, I, the Lord, am unholy Justice personified. The protector of the weak; the hope for all creatures. In the 30 years since this day, the Milky Way has been devastated, an entire species has been wiped out, the entire Empire has been affected in some way. And in the end... I have created the conditions in which the Demon Empire can now rule over once again. With the Metarex "

"I knew ordering the genocide of billions of Seedrians was wrong; I knew that roboticizing Tsali was wrong, too! But it was the only way to save this Galaxy from itself! I had no other choice! To destroy the Angels and bring peace to the Empire... I had to do it all. A few had to die... to save the many."

As Maledict finished his explanation, it was possible to hear a pin drop.

That is, before Cosmo finally composed herself again and found the words to respond.

"... No, Maledict." She rejected, "You're just a madman; a genocidal maniac who happens to have an Altus Emerald. And because of your lust for blood, you began the most devastating war in the history of this galaxy."

Satan turned a little bit and glared at Cosmo.

"You pathetic Seedrian... Like you would ever understand," He spoke with loathing, "You are just like your mother in every way. You have her great courage and willpower, Cosmo. But at the same time, you are just as dumb and ignorant as she was."

Luke and Cosmo gasped. "How _**DARE **_you even mention her, Satan! She was more of a leader than you ever could hope to be!" The former Metarex leader spat.

Maledict simply narrowed his eyes at Cosmo and smiled, but initially did not reply. By that point, several silent minutes had passed, although during this short period, Satan had come up with a contigency plan.

"... Hey, Tails!" The Devil suddenly called the Chosen One before him, "Here's some food for thought."

All of our heroes listened intently to whatever he was about to say.

"Those Chaos Emeralds that you have with you... and the ones that Eric and his friends found..." He began, "... Are they real or Demon-made fakes?"

Tails did not speal, but he was totally mystified. _Now what is he babbling about? Is he trying to run a bluff?_

As it turns out, Maledict was indeed trying to bluff to buy him some time during this temporary ceasefire in order to unleash the most powerful weapon in his arsenal; the _Leviathan_'s coaxial superlaser.

"... At this point, Tails, I am the only one who knows whether they are real or not... So I guess that only way to tell if they are real is to either give them to me... or attempt to use them yourselves, and risk Corruption from the Dark Chaos Energy that could be inside." As he spoke, the Devil inched his hand towards the secret, small button hidden underneath the panel in front of him. Nobody noticed him doing so, however.

"... Then, we can see if they are real..." He place his finger over the button, as he prepared to spring his plan into action, _"... OR FAKE!"_

The Devil lurched his hand underneath the control panel before him and pressed the hidden button, prompting a keyboard to suddenly jut out. Maledict immediately began frantically typing fire coordinates as fast as he could.

"Wait a second... It's the _Leviathan_'s superlaser!" The former Yellow Zelkova cried out in distress.

However, before the Evil One was able to fire his flagship's main weapon, two loud _BANG_s echoed from behind the Devil, and he staggered forward in surprise. The first gunshot hit the targeting screen of the superlaser, shattering it and damaging the controls.

The Devil glanced at his lower back, and he saw a smoking hole had been torn in his beloved cloak; the second bullet had been aimed at his back. All of the Demons, along with our heroes, stared at who was responsible.

Admiral D'Arnazhee was standing to Maledict's far right... with a smoking gun aimed straight at his unholy master. His hand was shaking, partially out of fear, but mostly out of pure rage. The three Demon leaders, along with our heroes gasped in surprise as their eyes fell upon him.

"... D'Arnazhee?" Beelzebub exclaimed, too shocked to do much more. The demented Demon Emperor promptly took a deep breath before completely exploding at his subordinate.

**_"D'ARNAZHEE, YOU ASSHOLE! WHO THE FUCK DO YOU THINK YOU'RE SHOOTING AT?" _**The Devil screamed loudly at the Demon admiral.

"... So millions of my best friends and closest komrades were killed... because of your sick game? Now, I realize that because of you, every one of them died in vain! I lost _FOURTEEN_of my brothers and sisters in this war, and every single one of them was killed because of YOU!" D'Arnazhee yelled defiantly back.

However, Maledict simply stared at him before regaining his composure and narrowing his eyes at his komrade's insubordination.

Before the Admiral could react, Satan thrust his hand out, causing the gun to fly out of D'Arnazhee's hand... and right into Maledict's.

The Devil instantly turned it and let loose, roaring in fury as he fired. Three loud plasma bullets almost instantly ripped through D'Arnazhee, who cried out in pain as the bullets boiled his leg, torso, and shoulder. He collapsed on the ground limply, his body now beginning to lose its energy.

Satan briskly stepped to his former komrade's side and aimed the gun at his head.

"Maledict, NO!" Beelzebub attempted to reason.

It was too late.

Satan pulled the trigger, and with a final _BANG_, Admiral Firmus D'Arnazhee was no more.

"... Oh my god!" Tails, Trinity, Sonic, Shadow, Luke, Tsali, and Cosmo all uttered simultaneously. However, this simply drew Satan's attention back to them.

"Holy shit!" On the Dreadnought, Sonya, Nolan, Fang, and Mighty also yelled.

"What the flying fuck did you do THAT for?" Beelzebub yelled angrily, "You just killed my best Admiral!" The Lord of Flies was promptly silenced by a death glare from the Evil One.

"... _Now!" _Maledict threw the gun on the floor, "I have won, Cosmo, and YOU are the one who has lost! It's all over! Now, you and your father will suffer the same fate as your beloved Hertia!"

...

Sonic, as if predicting the worst, instinctually ran forward next to Trinity and swiped his Altus Emerald from out of his hand.

"Hey, what the..." Trintiy began, but was cut off by Sonic suddenly appearing behind Tsali and doing the same thing with his own Altus Emerald.

Maledict raised his hands; his Altus Emerald appeared in is right hand and a small golden hilt appeared in his left. He promptly shoved his Altus Emerald into the small slot in the top and pressed the small button on the side, activating his plasma Emerald Sword.

However, Sonic came out onto the deck, with Tsali's and Trinity's Altus Emeralds in his hands.

There was a quick blinding flash of light as Sonic, with the power of the Altus Emerald, transformed in Hyper Sonic. A quick smile ran across his face as he flew towards the Demon fleet, and Tsali and Trinity followed him outside, picked up their Emeralds that were now floating on the deck.

_"So thats what he needed them for..." _Trinity realized.

Maledict teleported out of the bridge, floating in the vacuum of space just above his ship, and flew with all of his speed towards the Metarex fleet and the Typhoon. Although his speed quickly surpassed the speed of light as he flew, he noticed a bright flashing light suddenly coming straight towards him.

The Devil prepared his sword just as the form of Hyper Sonic skyrocketed towards him with a super-powered punch. Satan ducked as Sonic shot right past him like a bullet.

However, the Hyper hedgehog promptly teleported back several thousand meters in front of him, not discouraged by his failed first strike.

Sonic fired off several golden super-powered Chaos Spears at Maledict; each time, he deflected them harmlessly off into space with his gray sword. Privately, Satan was surprised that Sonic had not learned his own weakness in their last fight on the _Tryphon_.

Maledict sped forward and gave a strong slash, the impact sending Sonic away several thousand meters and giving him a giant burning laceration on his body. However, Sonic came at the Devil once again, notwithstanding his serious wound.

Satan immediately began giving the young hedgehog a beating he would never forget; teleporting in front of his face, he began slashing randomly at the golden hedgehog, give him several smoking cuts and wounds all over his body, before finishing off his combo with a powerful Falcon Kick that sent Sonic crashing into a large floating piece of debris.

Sonic held onto the metal weakly as he felt his strength slowly ebb from his battered and sliced body. But that's when he noticed something he hadn't noticed before; Amy's starfighter was flying straight at Maledict, preparing to attack.

"WAIT, AMY, DON'T...!" Sonic yelled with all of his remaining strength. However, this also alerted the Devil to her presence; he instantly spun around in a 180 degree direction, seeing Amy flying straight towards him.

A tempest of lasers and missiles erupted from her starfighter and streaked towards Maledict.

The missiles hit and exploded harmlessly on Maledict's body; he didn't feel a thing from them. Most of the lasers missed as well, except for one. Satan promptly deflected that single laser with his sword, sending it right back towards Amy's fighter.

The second before it hit, Amy's cockpit flew open and she leaped out, just as the deflected laser blast caused her ship to explode. Sonic promptly teleported and took her in his arms, then teleporting both of them back onto the piece of debris.

"Hmph. That was a skillfull little trick, but now, you have nowhere to run." The Devil said with great frankness as the battered Hyper Sonic prepared to protect Amy.

"I'll never let you touch her!" Sonic challenged. Behind him, Amy blushed slightly as the two of them held each other tightly.

"... Sonic, don't try to fight him! It's no use! We can't defeat him!" Amy desperately tried to plead with Sonic, realizing the true power of the Evil One.

Maledict smiled slightly. "You know, Sonic, that the young Miss Rose _is _right."

"Shut up!" Sonic positively screamed at the Demon Emperor.

Satan's facial expression now changed, from one of smug satisfaction to one of urgency, as if he had just remembered something. "Sonic! You still do not realize who you are! You know not of your true potential!"

"I'm not gonna listen, Maledict!" Sonic remained obstinate.

Maledict smiled suddenly. "... Your Mobian caregivers never told you whatever happened to your father, did they?"

"... Huh?" Amy commented, looking first at the Devil, and then back at Sonic.

"Well, they told me enough!" Sonic yelled, "... They told me that YOU killed him!"

The Devil once again smiled slightly as he spoke the shocking words the shook the Universe forever.

"No, Sonic the Hedgehog..._ **I**_ **am your father!"**

Both Amy and Sonic promptly stared at Satan as Sonic kept breathing in and out. His expression rapidly began changing from obstinate anger to one of hopeless despair.

"No... No... It can't be... _That's impossible_!" Sonic cried as his will failed him.

"Search your memories, Sonic! You _know_it is true!" Maledict replied.

**_"... NOOOOOOO!"_**Sonic now began sobbing from shock and stunned despair at this shocking revalation.

"Satan, you lying bastard! You're not his father, and we all know it!" Amy yelled at him angrily.

"... Yes I _am_, Miss Rose." Amy's facial expression immediately turned from furious anger to one of shock.

"Oh my god..." She kept alternately glancing at Sonic, then Maledict, then Sonic, the Maledict again, just as she began to realize the similarities between the two. "... So_ that's_ why you both look similar!"

"... Of course, Miss Rose. Sonic, you were born from my own blood. The same satanic blood runs through both of us. You have a copy of one of my genes; that gene gives you your supersonic running speeds... And your medallion, Sonic..." Maledict began to explain. Sonic promptly stopped crying and looked frightfully at him, his will mostly broken.

"... I made that medallion myself. It is written in Demonese Skript, an ancient and virtually-extinct writing system. I am one of the only sentient beings who still know it. The writing on that medallion is actually a quote from the Book of Kommandments."

Sonic looked down as he remembered the unknown writing on his platinum medallion, realizing that the Devil was revealing to him what it said.

"... _The Book of Maledict_, Chapter 666, Verse 66: _For you, Mobius, are not least among the tribes of the Empire. Behold, from you, I, the almighty Lord Maledict, will create my son, and he shalt be named Immanuel. And from him, I will give upon great power and authority, to rule all with a rod of alloy."_

"'Immanuel'?" Sonic asked.

"... Sonic... Your name in Demonese Skript... is translated 'Immanuel' from the original word root... that is where your name comes from." The Devil explained. The hedgehog simply blinked at him for a few seconds.

"You see, Sonic; fifty years ago, I used the human race and Black Doom to help me create what I thought would be my heir. His name was Shadow the Hedgehog. However, thanks to his human origins, Shadow was flawed; I abandoned him to the mercy of those pitiful human rabble. But you, Sonic... You are perfect, because I made you so."

"And now, my child, I give you a choice." The Devil began, "... Come with me - you, and all of your friends - and with our combined strengths and skills, we will watch the Angel Federation crumble beneath our feet, and then, you and I can rule the Universe together! We can both bring about a new golden age of universal peace and prosperity to all races and tongues!"

"... What's the other option, Maledict?" Amy spoke for Sonic, who was too busy thinking about Maledict's offer.

"... I will allow you to go back to your ship and return to your home planet and live in peace. You should never have gotten involved in this war to begin with.

"Hmmm... What about Tsali and the Metarex leaders?" Sonic suddenly asked, his composure regained.

"Both of them still must die! Their crimes still merit the death penalty." The Devil answered.

"Sorry, Maledict, but we're not leaving without our friends!" Amy said.

Satan now extended his hand, and a red ball of energy appeared. He immedately aimed it at Amy's body.

He then glanced at Sonic. "Now, Sonic, what is your choice?" What Sonic and Amy did not know, however, was that Maledict actually was not going of kill any of them, even if they did refuse.

Sonic's face now turned to fury. "No, Maledict. I won't join with you."

"... Then you will die." The Devil prepared to launch a Chaos attack at them, or, at least, he pretended to. However, he was interrupted by a bright light coming from the dstence to the far left of the two fleets.

_"Zir!" _Beelzebub interrupted over Maledict's communicator.

"What?" Maledict snapped sharply at him.

"Get back here, quickly! The Warpspace portal is opening..." The Lord of Flies stated as if in a trance.

Right as he said so, off in nothingness on the left-most area of space between the Demon fleet at the Blue Typhoon, a gigantic rainbow flash of light began to appear and slowly grow into the vacuum of space. Everybody watched it intently in silence at its beauty. Maledict teleported onto the bridge, closely followed by Chris picking up Sonic and Amy and taking them back to the Blue Typhoon.

"Oh my god..." The oversized hybrid suddenly stated as he looked at a random viewscreen, just as Satan reappeared inside the bridge of the _Leviathan_.

The Devil sighed in exasperation. "What now?"

"Take a look at this!"

The Devil himself froze at what he saw. The scrolling data on the screen were going absolutely ballistic with Dark Chaos Energy readings. In fact, it was beginning to number in the quadrillions.

"What is going on?" Satan muttered.

"Look! Over dere!" Astorath cried, pointing to the Warpspace portal. Without warning it started turning from a beautiful rainbow color to a deep watery blue.

Around the rapidly expanding portal, the Seven Chaos Emeralds each appeared from out of thin air one at a time, floating around the giant flux as it slowly began to shape itself and mold.

Like an aurora borealis, a hue of blue light began to glow all over the area as a tiny blue Warpspace portal opened, and through it appeared the same creature that nobody had expected to see again.

"DARK TAILS?" Tals exclaimed.

"THERE he is!" Maledict pointed. "About time he showed himself and stopped hiding like a pussy."

Sure enough, Dark Tails himself was floating right above the now gigantic sphere of Dark Chaos Energy. With all seven Chaos Emeralds around him, as well.

"**_Kono ama_!** I will rip you to pieces myself for what you did to Alice!" Sonya growled in frustration, taking out her the hilts of her Emerald Swords.

"Wait, Sonya-chan! Don't be hasty now. We have no idea how strong he is." Eric rebuked her.

Now, without warning, another glowing blue light appeared above the head of Dark Tails, shining above him and the ring of Chaos Emeralds around him. When the light faded, a tiny blue crystal-like object appeared, fell slowly into the planet, and was absorbed inside the sphere.

"Wait.. that's a... a..." Maledict was searching for the correct term.

"A what?" Beelzebub asked.

"... a Dark Planet Egg."

"Dark Planet Egg?" Sonic asked.

"They are extremely rare artifacts found in only a few places in the Universe, and they contain insane amounts of Dark Chaos Energy. It seems that Dark Tails, using the power of the Chaos Emeralds, has created his own Dark Planet Egg from scratch." The Devil explained.

Before anyone could ask him any other question, everybody were blinded as the sphere suddenly flashed with a bright blue light and the entire area of space began shaking violently.

As the light faded, it was possible to see what was going on; however, it was still very difficult to make out what was actually happening, thanks to the consistent schizophrenic flashing of the Dark Chaos sphere.

A noise was then heard; it was initially soft against the sound of charging energy, but as the energy noise faded, the charging noise began pulsating and jarring. It was low and somehow utterly sinister; a sort of electronic scraping that came in quick pulses, soft and deliberate.

The entire area began vibrating with sheer energy as the power of Dark Chaos began to tear apart Dark Tails's old body and create a new body for his dark soul.

He now looked down upon the both the Demon fleet and the Metarex fleet, led by the Blue Typhoon. Both fleets had began to turn so that their bows were directed towards his glory, and so that their cannons were automatically aimed at him.

The massive Dark Chaos sphere underneath Dark Tails' body began to glow brightly as a halo of lightening suddenly appeared around the God of Darkness.

Now, as if being pulled by an invisible magnet, the floating wreckage of all the destroyed ships and robots began flying towards the planet, collecting into a large supply.

With that, the Emeralds began spinning as Dark Tails' body began glowing brightly and the metal wreckage began spinning around his body.

As this light became brightly, the God of Darkness suddenly skyrocketed in terms of size as his body mutated and the pieces of metal began attatching to various parts of his body. Of course, our heroes could not tell what was happening, since they had been blinded by the power of the Dark Chaos Energy around him.

When the light finally faded, our heroes saw what could argueabley be the most hideous and grotesque monster any of them had ever seen. Even Maledict doubted that his greatest scientists could have created something that could have equaled this new monster.

Dark Tails had turned from a cobalt two-tailed Dark Chaos Being into a gigantic writhing fox-dragon, his body made up of a bizarre mixture of morphed metal and Dark Chaos Energy. His massive torso was connected to the Dark Chaos sphere, which was siphoning energy into his body. The whole body of Devil Tails was nearly as large as a small moon, easily dwarfing the entire Demon fleet; in fact, his head alone was about the size of Maledict's flagship. He also now had seven blue-pupilled eyes in a circular pattern on his face, and seven horns adorned his head; each one had a Chaos Emerald attached to it. One of his hands had turned into what looked like a gigantic tri-barrelled railgun, and the other hand turned into what seemed to be a flamethrower of some kind. In addition, two more arms had appeared on his body; both of them had normal claws, each claw the size of a Demon battleship. Octopi-like tentacles grew out of his back, writhing about in the vacuum of space.

The fox-dragon straightened and turned its seven eyes right at our heroes.

The voice of Dark Tails kept echoing, though his new form was not speaking through his mouth.

"Oh my god... He's just some... incomplete monster..." Tails muttered. Everyone else was simply stunned speechless by the grotesque sight before them.

"Damn, and I thought the Quadraxis was intimidating..." Tsali also muttered to himself at the same time for his location.

However, out of everyone, only Eric kept an optimistic attitude. "Time for some fun!" He exclaimed.

The biblical Devil simply stared at the monster for a few seconds before once again making video contact to the ships of his enemies.

For the next few seconds, as Maledict's face appeared in the holoscreen, he and our heroes simply stared each other down, until Satan finally broke the dramatic staring contest.

"... Well, ladies and gentlemen, it seems that we are at a stalemate." He sighed, showing them as much as he could that he was keeping his former demented side in check.

"Yes, it does." Luke spoke solemnly, unable to take his eyes of the form of Devil Tails.

"We don't have time for more fighting! We have no choice but to team up and take that monster down!" The voice of Eggman interrupted the two over the loudspeaker.

"... That's what I was just about to suggest, you moron." The true Devil muttered to himself.

Cosmo simply took in a deep breath, "And why should we?" Luke suddenly comforted his daughter, placing his hand on her shoulder to calm her down.

"Cosmo, hun, I don't want to sound like I'm suddenly siding with him, but he's right." The Metarex leader spoke.

"Listen to your father. He knows what he is talking about." The former Pale Bay Leaf supported his leader.

"I guess we have no choice... We have to kill that thing," Tsali spoke, "I will help... only because now, there is a common enemy among all of us."

"... Okay Maledict," Tails declared, "We'll help as best we can." The Devil nodded respectfully before his image cut out. He then turned to all of his servants and komrades located around the bridge.

"Gentlemen... Today, history has been made. And if we wish to see tomorrow... We will defeat Devil Tails!" Every single Demon, including Beelzebub and Astorath, cheered wildly, now firmly behind their unholy lord to the end.

And with that, the final battle began.


	24. Episode 76: Duel with Devil Tails

This entire episode is the final battle between Devil Tails and our heroes.

...

**Episode 76: Duel with Devil Tails**

The voice of the newly-resurrected God of Darkness roared across the vacuum of space, shaking every warship and object in a two light-year radius. The monster itself swiped randomly at the vacuum of space, and its seven heads randomly chomped down on empty vacuum, as if the deity controlling it was still trying to get used to his new form.

"Holy shitzorz..." Beelzebub muttered himself as he began patching into his detachment of the Demon fleet in order to immediately give them the order to attack.

"Numerous energy signatures are appearing around that thing! It is about to attack!" One of the Demon crewmembers on the bridge announced.

"... Then we must attack first. All ships, open fire, fire at will." Maledict calmly ordered to his entire fleet.

Within that instant, ever single ship around the _Leviathan_, including the massive dreadnought itself, realeased a barrage of plasma beams and plasma torpedoes at the new enemy.

Devil Tails screeched in pain as the hurricane of plasma singed his malevolent form, temporarily blackening his fur and causing a huge spacial area around his body to glow a hellish orange as the projectiles steamed and fizzled into a cloud of ionized smokelike particles.

Unfortauntely, to the surprise of the Demons in particular, the God of Darkness dispelled the steamy gas around him with a swipe of his gigantic railgun-hand, and not a second afterward, his blackened body began to glow blue as his wounds regenerated themselves instantaneously.

"... So he can heal himself at will by using Dark Chaos Energy... I should've known." The Devil muttered to himself again, still keeping calm somehow despite the situation.

The remaining Metarex ships also opened fire at the monster; their relatively weak lasers and missiles bounced harmlessly off of Devil Tails's furry skin, doing no damage whatsoever.

The God of Darkness suddenly twisted its body so that it was facing the Demon fleet, its railgun now extended fully. A bright-blue glow began emanating from the barrel of the colossal weapon.

"Shields up!" Maledict yelled in the split second before Devil Tails opened fire. But it was too late.

Almost instantaneously, the beast fired three giant blue-glowing rail slugs close to Maledict's flagship.

A Demon carrier and two battleships, all three of which had been positioned close to the _Leviathan_, rippled bright-blue as their hulls were incinerated and their volatile plasma storages detonated from the kinetic impact. The three doomed ships exploded in bright-yellow flashes of light and debris.

Astorath cried out in surprise, "Those railguns can destroy a capital ship in a single shot!"

All of a sudden, as if it were distracted by something else, the God of Darkness turned its attention towards the battered Metarex force and Blue Spore's flagship.

"Ummm... Uhhh..." Blue Spore stuttered as evil incarnate came face to face with him.

"... Quinn... Take evasive action! Right NOW!" Luke ordered to his personal friend. However, Quinn was far too terrified to even move.

Rather than aiming its railgun, the God of Darkness now opened its giant toothy mouth wide, prompting a bright blue glow to start emanating from it. Dark Chaos Energy began charging inside of his mouth, forming into a sphere of charging dark energy that rapidly began expanding and expanding, until even the deity's mouth was having difficulty containing its force.

Before Quinn could recover his nerve, Devil Tails unleashed his attack.

A bright-blue beam shot out of his mouth, aiming straight at Blue Spore's ship. The laser, almost too large and bright to look at directly, rippled and pulsed through the vacuum of space, leaving sound waves in its wake.

"QUINN!" Luke cried, realizing what was about to happen, but it was too late now.

The beam made its impact.

At first, it was difficult to tell if anything happened, until Blue Spore's ship began glowing blue in the center. It promptly sagged and began boiling as its ultra-thick armour was obliterated like paper, and this ship immediately exploded in a bright blue flash.

**"QUINN, NOOOOO!"** The Metarex leader screamed again, horrified tears pouring out of his eyes. He was restrained from immeditely teleporting to go fight the diety by his comrades.

"Luke! It's too late, there's nothing we can do." Bay Leaf attempted to reason with his comrade to no avail.

"Oh fucking hell..." Maledict exclaimed, now extending his own hand. A bright-red pentagram made of pure Chaos Energy appeared in front of the Demon fleet. "CHAOS WHIRLWIND!"

A hurricane of unholy fire erupted from the pentagram and swarmed over the deity like a tidal wave of flame. Devil Tails screeched even louder in apparent pain from the strength and fury of Satan's signature flame attack.

Unfortunately, as the same case with the cannon fire from the Demon warships, the dark deity's body regenerated his skin the moment the attack had ended.

"... I guess not even my average powers work at this point. But..." That's when Maledict got an idea that just might work.

"Tails!" Maledict spoke. Immediately, Tails appeared on his viewscreen.

"Yes! Do you have any kind of plan to stop him?"

"That's the exact reason I called." The real Devil spoke. "... With the Chaos Emeralds, not to mention that Dark Planet Egg, that thing's a mighty powerful monster. But there is a chance of me being able to finish it off if I have your support. I need you, Shadow, Eric, and Tsali to go into your Chaos-powered forms and weaken it as much as you can while I harness the energy of the Chaos Emeralds into my Altus Emerald."

"We would, except there's a slight problem..." Chris spoke, pointing at Devil Tails, "... _He_ has all of the Chaos Emeralds, so they cannot transform."

However, the Devil then held up his gray Altus Emerald, smiling smugly, "We don't need the Chaos Emeralds, you stupid ape."

Chris immediately glared at him from the window; he knew it was an insult about his species.

"Wait a second... Can your gray Emerald... seriously _do_ that?" Amy asked in awe.

"Of course, Miss Rose," Satan replied cordially, "My Altus Emerald is far more powerful than all seven Chaos Emeralds and the Master Emerald _combined_. It was created by my Father Altus Himself, which He willed to me as my birthright."

"Okay okay okay, we don't need more cliche villain dialogue." Knuckles interrupted apathetically. Maledict cleared his throat in annoyance.

"And _we_ don't need bickering in our hour of battle." Trinity spoke.

"Of course. Meet me on the deck of the Typhoon." The Devil promptly teleported off-screen, cooinciding with the transmission ending.

On the Blue Typhoon, Tails turned towards his lover Cosmo.

"Cosmo, I have to go fight that monster. I am leaving the Blue Typhoon to you. Can you take over for the time being?" Tails ordered.

The young Seedrian nodded, "... Yes, Tails. Good luck."

She took a few steps up next to him and gave him a small peck on his furry cheek. Normally, Tails would've just stood there staring at her, but now, there was something much more important calling him; hence, he didn't think about the kiss much.

Tails immediately leaped out of his seat, sprinting out of the bridge with Tsali as Cosmo took his special place in the captain's chair.

Almost the exact moment that the fox left, three new holo-messages appeared; one of them was from Robotnik, one was from Eric, and the third was Espio from the Chaotix's ship, which was apparently docked in the Dreadnought's hanger.

"Cosmo! Eric!" Robotnik implored, "We're going to haveta pull our energy together to stand a chance. Let's connect our ships so that we can share our combined power! Espio, you gotta support Eric."

"Good idea, Eggman." Cosmo agreed.

"Sure, let's do it." Eric also concurred.

"Commence unity sequence!" Eggman spoke. Espio simply nodded, before all three images vanished.

Within the space of a few seconds, loud metallic groans sounded over the ship as the Dreadnought slowly attached itself to the starboard side of the Typhoon and the Crimson Egg attached itself to the rear of both ships.

...

Maledict appeared on the flight deck of the Typoon; he was instantly joined by Sonic, Shadow, and Eric, followed closely by Tsali and Tails.

"Okay guys, my plan of battle is this; if you can distract and weaken him enough, I may be able to get in one of my ultra-powers and finish him off... for the time being."

"'For the time being?'" Shadow echoed.

The Devil stared at him for a moment. "As he is a creature of Dark Chaos and can reform out of the smallest atom of dark energy, we cannot vanquish him completely. However, if we destroy his new god form, it's an impossibility that he would amass enough power to transform into it again."

"Oh..." Tails commented bluntly.

"Well..." Tsali glanced at the form of Devil Tails temporarily, "I guess it may be our only chance to stop him from corrupting the galaxy."

"Stand close to me, and I'll power you up." Satan ordered, and the other heroes instantly followed his command.

He then took his gray Altus Emerald and raised it up in the air, beginning to chant an arcane satanic ritual in Demonish. The dark artifact began glowing brighter and brighter as it began spinning like a top.

Maledict's voice sped up and became louder and louder by the time he finished his chant. However, the resulting noise of charging energy became so loud that it was nearly impossible to hear him over his dark gem.

A large red pentagram appeared on the ground, underneath our heroes, and each of their bodies flashed brilliantly as the power of the Evil One activated their Chaos-powered forms; in the case of the two hedgehogs, Hyper Shadow and Hyper Eric; in the case of the foxes, Ultra Tails, Super Trinity and Super Tsali.

Hyper Sonic suddenly zommed over to them from out of nowhere.

"Come on guys, and let's do this!" Sonic cheered to his now-charged friends.

"Go, and bring victory to us all." Satan ordered. Of course, he didn't need to tell any of them twice.

As they left, Beelzebub and Astorath suddenly spoke to Maledict through their portable communicators.

_"Maledict, we're going out there too! We're gonna show him the power of FUDGE!"_ The hyperactive voice of Beelzebub declared.

_"And den we will krush dem like bug!" _Astorath added to his komrade's message

"Roger that, guys. Meet me outside the _Leviathan _and we'll fly in together." Maledict replied.

...

The five Chaos-powered anthros sped wildly through the vacuum of space towards the God of Darkness.

Meanwhile, Satan teleported back in front of the bridge of his personal flagship. He could see his allies flying towards the Beast; from this distance, though, they simply looked like multi-colored shooting stars.

At first, Devil Tails seemingly didn't notice the group of super-strong heroes, until they came up close to his middle head. The Beast roared in furious anger at these new enemies approaching.

He opened his mouth, prompting another blue sphere of energy; an early indication of his devastating beam attack.

"Watch out, guys!" Tsali called out on the fly like a soldier yelling out an order. The evil deity fired its giant LA-zer (as Dr. Evil would say) at our heroes.

Before it hit the group, all five anthros changed their flying formation; thus, the blue beam of death sailed right through the group harmlessly, going on for a few more light-minutes and then fizzling out behind them.

Tsali, on the fly, extended one of his gloved hands; bright-blue energy formed as he launched a suped-up machine gun burst of Dark Chaos Spears, which thanks to his Super from was even stronger than it already was.

The Ultimate Weapon's attack impacted the main head of Devil Tails, causing it to scream loudly in pain as these powerful bolts strafed across its mouth, eyes, nose, and forehead.

Sonic, Shadow, and Eric went into their distinctive Spin-Dashes; thanks to their power, rainbow energy shone brightly around their spinning forms.

The three Hyper hedgehogs began rapidly slamming into the fur-covered skin of the Beast; they rapidly bounced around all over his face, body, and secondary heads.

As Shadow was bouncing around, he suddenly felt something grab him and yank him away, causing him to lose his Spin-Dash. He looked back behind him; a giant toothy maw had clamped around his ankle.

One of the God's heads yanked the Ultimate Lifeform violently, sending him flying away like a discuss at an Olympic competition.

"Maria, don't let me die now..." Shadow prayed and squeezed his eyes shut as he felt himself spinning into space, certain of impending doom.

Fortunately, before he was flung too far out into space, Tsali teleported right behind him and caught him.

"Gotcha!"

Shadow opened his eyes upon hearing the familiar voice; Tsali was the first thing he saw.

The Ultimate Weapon smiled slightly. "You're not getting out of the fight that easy."

"Oh hell, I wouldn't want to miss this." His counterpart Ultimate smiled back; even though Tsali had killed Molly, Shadow now put his grudge in check thanks to their common foe.

Meanwhile, as the two Ultimate anthros got back into the fight, Ultra Tails, Super Trinity, and Hyper Sonic kept up their ferocious assault, not pausing for a single moment to give their enemy time to take a breath.

Trinity extended his claw blades as he flew onto the Beast's hairy forehead. He immediately began stabbing his claw blades again and again into the head. Bright-blue Chaos Energy seeped out of the wounds like blood and floated out into the vacuum.

Devil Tails, however, used its intact arm to swipe its arm down on its forehead, nearly crushing Trinity with the sheer size of its limb.

Beelzebub and Astorath now joined the fight. Brandishing his overgrown stinger, the Lord of Flies zipped at one of the Beast's subordinate heads and promptly began thrusting his stinger into its skin as if he were humping it.

The head roared in agony as the corrosive acid dripping from Beelzebub's stinger melted its tissue and muscle from the inside. Within seconds, its head dissolved and floated through space, a gruesome cloud of bright-green acid and blood.

However, before Beelzebub could turn his attention away, the severed neck suddenly shook violently as something began growing out of it; another head!

"He can grow his own heads back too?" The overgrown insect exclaimed.

Astorath, meanwhile was beating the shit out of not one, but two of Devil Tails's heads, repeatedly batting them with his golden mace and slamming them together with his sheer strength, despite his severe disadvantage in size.

Upon hitting them together and stunning them, he promptly brandished his dual miniguns and let loose, spraying the two toothy maws with plasma.

Maledict himself tried Beelzebub's hypothesis; swinging his sword, he flew as fast as he could towards the main head. Promptly, two more heads blocked his flight, protecting their master.

They were instantly silenced by two quick slashes of Satan's sword; their decapitated heads floated away. And just as they did, they were replaced by two more that grew in their place.

"... So they DO really grow back..." Maledict muttered.

However, without warning, two large shafts of light appeared from the monsterous backside of Devil Tails, and two extra heads appeared. However, as they extended, it was obvious that they had much longer necks than the subordinate ones that they were all fighting.

These two new beast heads growled and rapidly flew away from the sphere, their thick fleshy necks growing to compensate for their movement.

Sonic and his Chaos-powered companions realized what these new appendages had targeted. They were about to attack the Typhoon, now attached to the Egg Crimson and the Dreadnought.

"They're gonna destroy my Typhoon! We gotta help them!" Tails exclaimed.

"NO!" Maledict sharply ordered, "Your friends can handle it on their own. We can help by attacking the main body; that will also help your friends at the same time."

"... Maledict's right. That's probably the best course of action." Trinity came to a conclusion.

...

"Uh-oh..." Cosmo simply spoke as she stared at the enormous slobbering maws flying towards her lover's ship.

"We gotta take those things down!" Knuckles exclaimed, and sprinted out of the bridge with Rouge in tow.

"... All ships, this is Cosmo the Seedrian. Switch targets to those... those _things _coming at us." She relayed ordered to the Metarex ships that remained, still not quite comfortable with leading actual military forces.

The Metarex ships promptly threw everything they still had at the new threats; however, their weapons only slowed the heads down. Not only that, but as they closed in, the heads actually chomped through several Metarex frigates that were unlucky enough to have been in their way, shrugging off the bright explosions of ships in their mouths.

The two heads coiled their huge necks around the Typhoon-Dreadnought-Crimson Egg like boa constricters and roared as they attempted to bore through the ships of our heroes.

Dark Oak, Knuckles, Rouge, and Pale Bay Leaf were doing their best to defend the Blue Typhoon; Eric's friends and the Chaotix were defending the Dreadnought, while Yellow Zelkova, Black Narcissus, and Red Pine were defending Robotnik's ship.

Luke latched onto the furry neck of the monsterous appendage attacking the Typhoon and swung his sword into the thick skin, blood spattering with each stroke. Promptly, the toothy head that the neck was connected to turned, snatched Oak in its maw, and flung him out into space.

The armored Seedrian stabilized himself in the air and came back at the head again.

Before he did, Pale Bay Leaf also attacked, with his dual small swords brandished, followed by Knuckles and Rouge. The two Mobians distracted the head of the creature with their ineffectual attacks, while the real damage was being done by the Metarex leaders clamped on the neck of the appendage.

A swarm of missiles fired from the top of the Crimson Egg and streaked at the long necks, damaging them and causing satisfying cries of pain from the monsters.

Meanwhile, above the hull of the Dreadnought, Sonya, Fang, and the Chaotix also threw themselves into the fray. Sonya had gone up on her own as a distraction while the others attacked.

The purple teenager swung her small Emerald Swords into the rippling furry flesh, burning through it with ease. The head roared and lurched upward, throwing her right off and loudly slamming her onto the Dreadnought's hull.

Sonya felt herself stare at death in the face as the toothy head turned down towards her stunned form and opened its mouth to eat her whole.

_CRACK. _The head suddenly jerked back and roared in pain, distracting it from its would-be meal. Sonya turned to see who rescued her; Fang, his still-smoking sniper rifle aimed directly at the monster.

_"Arigatou gozaimasu!" _She thanked him graciously as she got to her feet.

"You seriously thought I would just sit back and watch that thing eat you?" The money-loving weasel spoke sarcastically. Sonya shrugged.

Meanwhile, Espio also jumped into the fray with his explosive shurikens, and Vector with his powerful flame breath. The pruple chameleon threw his ninja stars at the face of the monstrous appendage, detonating them in its face for great justice.

Luke finally managed to slice apart the head attacking the Typhoon, and promptly did the same to the stunned appendage attacking the Dreadnought.

...

The biblical Devil, by now, could tell that his heroic komrades were nevertheless not doing any real decisive damage towards the monster.

"Everyone! Halt your attacks and regroup between our fleets!" Maledict yelled.

"... What? Why?" Tsali angrily inquired.

"We're not doing anything to him! Before you all run out of power, I need to report to all of you! Beelzebub and Astorath, get back to the _Leviathan_ immediately so that you are out of harm's way."

Promptly, all of the Chaos-powered anthros stopped their attacks and teleported back to Maledict, who had positioned himself out of the monster's range. At the same time, the two oter Demons leaders made their way back to the _Leviathan_.

"... Chipping away at him is useless! He can heal any superfluous damage to his body. The only way to defeat him is to obliterate him with a single attack, preventing him from restoring himself for good." Maledict spoke grimly to his allies.

"But how? What kind of power could possibly destroy him in a single blow?" Shadow asked incredulously.

The biblical Devil sighed as he held up his Altus Emerald, "I've done the math, and only an attack that could do over 9000 damage on the Chaos scale, which requires more energy than both the Chaos Emeralds and the Master Emerald combined. I will do it, because I am the only one who can harness that kind of power thanks to my Altus Emerald."

"... Really? Can you use a power that is over 9000?" Tsali asked him, also incredulous.

Suddenly, Maledict smirked. "... Just watch this!" He promptly teleported away.

"Hey, he took my line..." Shadow muttered disparingly. Sonic chuckled in response, knowing that line quite well back when he and Shadow were enemies.

...

The Devil appeared far above the starry battlefield, and pulled back his cloak sleeves so that they wouldn't get in the way of his move.

**"I call upon the power of Chaos by the names of our great heroes of old!" **Maledict cried out in Demonese Skript, **"Leeroy Jenkins! Chuck Norris! Captain Falcon!..."**

"... Wait, what is he saying? It's too difficult to understand him from this distance." Beelzebub asked Astorath.

"He is calling on the great heroes of our past." Astorath replied, for he knew just enough Demonese Skript to translate.

Maledict held up both of his shriveled hands, and immediately, a mid-sized ball of energy formed. It rapidly began growing larger and larger until it was quickly more enormous than the Blue Typhoon, Crimson Egg, and Dreadnought combined.

The enormous sphere of firey wrath kept growing and growing, and by now, even Maledict was having difficulty holding it in his control.

And thus, the Devil spoke one last time;

**"... IMMA FIRIN MAH LAZAAHH!"**

...

Satan unleashed his ultimate finish; the epic battle had now come to its climax.

The biblical Devil jabbed his hand forward, and a huge crimson beam the size of the entire Demon fleet erupted from in front of him, bathing everything within several light-years around him in blinding shadowless red light.

Maledict's attack was so ridiculously powerful that it could have instantly obliterated the final forms of every _Dragonball Z_ character that has ever existed.

Every single sentient aboard the ships in Tails's fleet and in the Demon fleet were blown backwards violently from the sheer force of the Evil One's might. Even the mighty _Leviathan_ was slowly pushed backwards from the pulse of pure satanic Chaos.

However, Dark Tails was obviously not fazed by even this. For that same moment as his challenger attacked, the God of Darkness snapped his mouth open and unleashed his own might; a huge blue beam that was the exact same size as Maledict's.

The two galaxy-destroying powers collided into one another.

A bright-green ball of conflicting force the size of the planet Jupiter appeared as the red and blue Chaos attacks forced each other back to and fro. There was so much energy combining in that part of space that it was possible to see the space-time continuum ripping apart in that same diamater.

The void of space vibrated like thunder; electricity bounced around the zero-ground between the two demonic opponents. But now, the amount of pressure and magentism had grown so that several planetoids nearby began being sucked in and incinerated by the power.

Super Tsali, the moment he saw the two beams fire, used a split-second Chaos Shield to protect them. However, the force was so insane that even the Ultimate Weapon was desperately struggling to keep the shield from collapsing. His comrades rapidly came to his aid to prop up the only thing between them and death.

They were so close to the epicenter that, had Tsali not put up his shield and managed to keep it working, both he and his five allies would have been incinerated before they could even comprehend what just happened.

All six of them growled and panted in pain as they desperately held up the shield with all of their might against the withering tempest of volatile energy.

**_"SHIT.... HOW MUCH FUCKING ENERGY DID THAT BASTARD USE?"_** Tsali screamed over the howling spacial wind that blew all around them.

**_"I DON'T KNOW, BUT THAT'S THE MOST ASS-BACKWORD OVERPOWERED ATTACK I'VE EVER SEEN!" _**Shadow shouted in reply.

Meanwhile, back on the blinded bridge of the DSS _Leviathan_, Beelzebub and Astorath were desperately holding on for dear life against the force of the standoff.

**_"... BEELZEBUB!"_** Astorath yelled desperately over the noise,** _"... WHAT DOES THE SCANNER SAY ABOUT LORD MALEDICT'S POWER LEVEL?"_**

Resisting all the force as best he could, the Lord of Flies slowly grabbed onto the panels, pulling himself over to the _Leviathan_'s energy scanner, which was going completely off the charts.

**_"... IT'S OVER NINE THOUSAAAAAAAAND!"_** Beelzebub screamed in shock, unknowingly referring to the legendary meme.

_**"WHAT, NINE THOUSAND?"**_ The Prince of Darkness replied as best he could, _**"THERE'S NO WAY THAT CAN BE RIGHT! CAN IT?"**_

Out in space, the doomsday-esque standoff was rapidly becoming larger and larger. Indeed, it almost seemed like the Apocalypse itself had now arrived.

Both Maledict and Devil Tails did not let up the pressure on each other. That is, until Maledict did something unexpected.

Charging up his Chaos Spears as fast as he could, Satan added their strength into his still-healthy beam attack. This move, in turn, made his beam grow several times larger than the one that Dark Tails had unleashed.

Slowly but irreversibly, the biblical Devil's attack pushed the Beast's Chaos beam backwards, straight back into the monster's mouth.

Within several seconds, Maledict's crimson laser was mere inches away from the God's maw. Devil Tails was desperately trying with all of his strength to turn the tide, but to no avail, for the Evil One was simply more divine than he ever could be.

**_"RRRRRRAAAGGGHHHHH!"_** Maledict roared in fury as he put all of his remaining energy into the final impact.

The God of Darkness and his final defense had failed.

Devil Tails' beam completely dissipated as Maledict's newly super-sized laser smothered and hid his body in blinding crimson light.

For the next several seconds, it was just barely able to see what was happening. The Deity screamed loudly in anguish as it tried to resist the Evil One's might to no effect.

After several seconds of loud screeching, the God threw his heads back, and his entire body was slowly dissolved into ashes as the power of the Devil's firey laser incinerated his body into dust and fleshy chunks.

Despite the fact that he could see that his opponent had been destroyed, the Devil still kept his beam up for a few more seconds, just to make sure that it was gone and that he did not leave any trace of the monster.

Satan's laser now shrunk smaller and smaller as the Chaos Energy still put into it was being transferred back to Maledict's immortal body, until it had completely dissapted. As it finally vanished, Tsali groggily put down his shield, both him and all of his friends totally exhausted from the effort of protecting themselves.

Even the Evil One was affected. He was obviously breathing shallowly, and he certainly could never use another power like that for a very long time.

He teleported back into the bridge of his flagship, and his knees promptly buckled underneath him, causing him to sink to the floor in exhaustion.

Beelzebub, Astorath, and D'Arnazhee immediately came to their lord's aid..

"That was friggin AWESOME! You fucking kicked his ASS!" Beelzebub commented.

Maledict chuckled slightly. "Whew... I think I'm getting too old for this..."

"You think?" Astorath spoke, "Your power level was over 9000! You could have killed all of us if you had been trying to!"

"I know. Aren't you glad you're one MY side now?" General laughter reverberated around the bridge here.

"Ummm.... Maledict..." The distressed voice of Cosmo sudddenly could be heard.

"What's up?" The Devil asked.

"You better take a look at what's happening!"

And so, he did.

Where Devil Tails once was, now there was simply a pulsating sphere of Dark Chaos Energy that was flashing and giving off tendrils. Small bolts of cobalt lightening arced off the surface of the rapidly pulsing sphere.

"What the... What's going on?" Shadow wondered aloud.

"Is he... still alive...?" Tsali also wondered, not wanting to believe that Dark Tails could have really survived against that kind of attack.

"There's something wierd happening with my scanner readings. According to what it is saying, it appears that now, Dark Tails's remaining Dark Chaos Energy levels have begun to reverse, and are drawing in all Dark energy nearby." The voice of Robotnik transmitted.

"But why?" Amy asked.

"... There's only one reason I can think of that he would do that." Maledict solemnly stated. Everyone looked at him in surprise, not expecting him to realize what was going on. "He is either transferring his concioussness into an alternate dimension... Or he is desperately attempting to keep his nearly dead form alive at all costs."

"It's too difficult to tell from this distence; there's way too much energy fluxation," Cosmo commented.

"That's probably from the Warpspace portal that Dark Tails used to summon his Dark Planet Egg." The Devil replied.

"Speaking of the Dark Planet Egg, where did it go? Did it get incinerated?" Robotnik wondered aloud.

"Good question... Hey, what the..." Maledict checked his scanners several times, "Something wierd is happening..."

"What's going on?" Cosmo inquired.

"My scanners are detecting solid chunks of matter suddenly appearing from out of Warpspace everywhere around that Dark energy flux! They're beginning to combine and come together."

Indeed, they were.

Out in the void of space, enormous massive of solid rock and dust rapidly began spinning and coiling around an invisible sphere of Dark Chaos Energy, until they had hardened and solidified.

Within the space of only about a minute, a planetoid of rock formed in the space, and it promptly began shining a brilliant blue as a sea of Dark energy engulfed the planet and began carving it up.

And then, just as quickly as it started, the flashing subsided, and our heroes looked upon a sight that they had never seen.

A small, bright blue planet had formed, complete wth an atmosphere and rocky surface. Cobalt bolts of electricity danced about and navy-blue clouds covered its skies, rendering its surface nearly invisible.

"What the..." Tsali, out in space, began, "What is that thing?"

...

The next chapters will be up shortly, for they are already finished.


	25. Episode 77: Tails's Work

Here we are. After over three years of writing, we come to the final confrontation. End of the road!

Let me just say one last thing; though our heroes claim victory, this victory will have a terrible price.

Enjoy, and get out your tissues, cause you're gonna need them. I have already called a waaaaambulence just in case.

...

**Episode 77: Tails's Work**

The cobalt hue of the new object glowed in the dark vacuum of space, its atmosphere pulsing and vibrating through the time-space rift that it had formed from. The space around it glowed a slight blue color and created a mysterious presence around this bizarre freak-of-nature event.

"What the hell IS that?" Tsali asked as he stared at the world before him.

"It's a... a... a Dark Chaos Planet. How strange..." Maledict noted to himself.

"Dark Chaos Planet?"

"It's a very rare natural phenomenon that causes Dark Chaos Energy to absorb and shape into one giant sphere. Despite their name, these are normally only about the size of a small building, but this one must the size of a moon at least." The Devil explained.

"It has to be artificial; created by Dark Tails himself, probably." Eggman commented.

"You're saying that Dark Tals has now created his own _planet_?" Knucles suddenly butted in.

"As far as I can tell, yes he did." Robotnik retorted.

"I wonder how strong it actually is... All ships, target that Dark Chaos Planet and fire at will!" Satan ordered, and the Demon fleet uder his command charged and unleashed yet another bombardment of plasma.

However, before the shots reached the surface, the plasma simpled fizzled out of existence, as if they had just been blocked by something.

"That thing is protected by something in orbit; our orbital weapons won't work." Beelzebub stated.

Without warning, several hundred Warpspace portals formed around the atmosphere of the Dark Chaos Planet, and from them, the familiar forms of Demon warships appeared. However, unlike real Demon ships, their hulls were tinted a deep cobalt.

"Are those..." Astorath began, "Demon ships?"

"We got Demon ships locking onto us!" Beelzebub exclaimed.

"They must have been corrupted by Dark Tails and called to his defense. They'll protect him to the death. Open fire!" The Devil ordered.

Promptly, the Demon fleet opened up on their traitorous corrupted komrades, incinerating them in a flurry of plasma blasts that left the atmosphere of the planet glowing somewhat orange.

The planet stopped reacting, and sat still. However, then came a loud noise like a sonar blip from the planet, and visible bright-blue shockwaves slowly came one after another from the surface, spreading out in all directions.

Nearby worlds and planetoids were soon hit by these radio waves; promptly, the rocky surfaces were covered with tendrils of Dark Chaos Energy.

"Gaah!" Cosmo gasped as she felt like something was slowly pulling her apart.

"Cosmo honey, what's wrong?" Dark Oak asked to his daughter, before being hit by the same feeling. Both him and Cosmo now had blue auras around them.

So did Amy, Chris, and everyone else on the bridges of our heroes' ships; even Maledict, Beelzebub, and Astorath were getting the same effects. Outside, Sonic, Shadow, Eric, Tsali, and Trinity were slowly being drained by this new phenomenon

"What the hell... What's going on? What does it feel like we're all getting weaker?" Sonya inquired tiredly over the radio.

"The Planet is absorbing all the Dark Chaos Energy it can find to spread Corruption across the entire galaxy. It's the final stage of Dark Tails's evolutionary phase; his transformation into the God of Darkness!" Robotnik quickly replied.

Once again switching back into space, Sonic and Shadow noticed that Tails wasn't panting or being drained at all; he had no blue aura around him.

"... Tails?" Sonic said in wonder.

"Dark Tails cannot harm me using his corrupting influence alone, because if he tried to drain me, he would drain himself. I am the only one who can resist his power."

"Then we have no time! You must go to the core of the Dark Chaos Planet and destroy the Dark Planet Egg!" The Devil ordered, "With that, we should be able to stop Dark Tails's plan permanantly without resorting to... the other option."

"What other option?"

"... We kill Tails, and Dark Tails dies with him." Satan curtly explained.

"WHAT?" Everyone on the bridge of the Blue Typhoon yelled at the Devil.

"We can't do that!"

'Which is why Tails must destroy the Dark Planet Egg instead of vanquishing Dark Tails."

"I'll go with you, Tails." Sonic offered.

"No!" Maledict's voice refused, "Tails may be immune to the Planet, but you aren't, Sonic. Even with your Hyper form, you will be dead quickly."

"Then I will go," Tsali also offered, "I'm a robot; I am thus immune to radiation."

"... But not to the long-term effects of Dark Chaos Energy; if you go, Tsali, your inner organs and tissue shall be corroded and melted from the energy within a short while."

"Try to keep dibs on me with your remote sensors; I don't want to be blind." Tails requested.

"Certainly. We'll be monitoring your progress and the path ahead." The Devil chimed in.

"I better get going." With that, Ultra Tails sped forward with all of his power into the Planet's atmosphere.

...

As the Chosen One slowed his descent, he glanced around at Dark Tails's new world. He had never seen anything lke it, despite all the planets that he had been on over the previous eight months.

The entire sky was covered in deep-blue clouds with rippling cobalt lightening flashing brightly. Gigantic blue Shroud tentacles the size of small buildings soared into the sky. The bitterly-cold air nipped at Tails's skin.

Tails guided his landing into a small sinkhole; the only clear spot he could detect amongst the jagged crevices and boulders. He once more took a look around the moment he landed. There were many other things to see; bulbous glowing plants, giant webs of Dark Chaos Energy, and all the like everywhere.

Suddenly, Tails heard static come from his wristwatch.

"Tails, are you recieving?" The voice of Maledict came through.

"Loud and clear." Tails replied, "Are you guys seeing this?"

"We got eyes on all of it." Beelzebub spoke.

"Okay, where am I supposed to go now? I can't see any caves or exits..."

_"Scanning right now... Okay, we just found a path to the core. There should be a cavern entrance near your landing spot. It may be covered with Dark Chaos Energy webs, though."_

"Okay, I'll..." Tails didn't finish his sentence; without warning, his entire body fell down as is strength vanished in an instant. The young kit growled, "What the..."

Tails looked over his body; now, rather than the bright-rainbow fur that he had before as Ultra Tails, he now had the dark-green fur of Shroud Tails. However, he didnt feel any sort of Shroud mutations or ill symptoms like he did before.

"...What happened?"

_"I can't tell for certain, but apparently, the Shroud inside you is begnning to react to the environment. It has canceled out your Chaos-powered form,"_ Maledict radioed in. _"You will be able to use your Shroud powers now without any sort of symptoms, and you will now have naturally strong resistence towards the radioactive atmosphere, but be careful; I don't know what may happen from over-exposure."_

"I'll be careful." Tails looked around for the exit that he had been told about earlier, and he found it; a large web of energy splayed out over a small opening.

Tails extended his arm and let out a Chaos Spear. Now dark-green colored, it incinerated the tendrils into gooey puddles. Even he was impressed by his own new strength.

"Hmm..." Tails muttered, but shrugged off his questions and went into the dank cave that had been opened.

_"There should now be an apparently bottomless underground shaft down the cavern. Keep going forward until you get to that shaft."_

After a few minutes of making his way through the darkness, he came up to his prize. Just as his komrades had alerted, a gigantic shaft similar to the one back on the MXS Tryphon was sitting there.

"Okay, I'm at the abyss."

_"Jump into it."_

"Wait, what?" Tails asked, taken aback.

_"You heard me! Jump into it and fall to the bottom. It'll give you a straight shot to the core. Your Shroud-infused body won't be affected by the fall."_

"Well... Alright, if that's what you say."

Taking a deep breath, Tails felt his legs leave the ground, and he began free-falling into the bottomless sinkhole. Fauna and creatures that were attached to the cavern walls zoomed past him like speed lines.

The novelty wore off, however, when Tails suddenly felt himself being pulled down much faster than before and with much more velocity. He realized why; he was going so deep that the pressure had radically increased and had begun to pull him in like a magnet.

"Oh shit..." Tails muttered as he hurtled through the shaft; this wasn't gonna be pretty.

_"You're almost to de bottom! Prepare for impact!"_ Astorath's voice warned. Tails moved from his skydive, rightening himself in the air.

The rocky ground shot up towards him faster than a bullet. Tails heard a large crack as he hit the ground... but no pain. Tails looked down; his body had hit the ground running, and the rocky floor beneath him had cracked from the impact. Now, he was REALLY impressed.

_"...Y... -ay..."_

"Say again?"

_"... Tails, are you alright?"_ Tsali's voice suddenly came over.

"I didn't even feel that." The Chosen One spoke confidently.

_"From here on... contact will be... interup-"_ Maledict's voice was speaking and was being cut off at certain intervals. _"Th-... the... cor-... -epth..."_

It shut off automatically, before turning back on.

"_The rock is blocking the transmission, Tails." _Tsali's voice spoke again; he was clearer thanks to his closer proximity to the surface of the Planet. "_I'll guide you from here_."

Tails, looking around, noticed quite a change from his time on the surface; there was virtually no fauna or life to be seen down here, compared to the vibrant surface.

He also felt vibrations in his body and mind; the Dark Planet Egg's influnce.

_"... The Dark Planet Egg should be close... Wait..."_

"What is it?"

_"... Shroud Combat Forms! Those must be the Demons soldiers that were corrupted by Dark Tails. There are groups of them moving towards your location. Get ready for an attack."_

The Chosen One didn't have much time to get ready, because within about three secods, he was assaulted by a wave of mutated monsters he had never seen before.

They looked vaguely like the Demon soldiers Tails had seen in the past, but their bodies had been horrifically distorted and bloated. Giant pustules pulsated all over their manged bodies. Their arms had been morphed into massive claws, and their faces had been ripped away, replaced by three fleshy prongs connected to more bloated green flesh.

Two of these Combat Forms leaped at Tails like cheetahs, their mutated legs giving them incredible jumping distance. However, Tails fired two Chaos Spears at them, and their bodies were blown away into more chunks.

As if on cue, three more replace them, and as if that weren't enough, six more appeared around Tails; the Shroud had surrounded him. However, with a loud _SHING! _all the mutant beasts in front of Tails were sliced into smoking pieces.

Tails, stunned by this sudden move, did not even notice until a few seconds later that somebody was behind him. He turned around in surprise.

"... Tephiroth?" The Chosen One exclaimed. Indeed, Tephiroth was standing there, his sword outstretched.

"... Hello, Tails. I had to give you some support. However, I cannot stay here for long. This radiation is... draining, to say the least. " The Angel assassin spoke in a rather tired voice, as a very small blue aura began forming around him.

Tails smiled. "Thanks."

Wordlessly, Tephiroth vanished in a blue flash, reappearing on the bridge of the Blue Typhoon next to Knuckles and Chris. He promptly fell to one knee in exhaustion; despite his fantastic power, his biology was totally vulnerable to the effects of Dark Chaos, unlike Tsali's robotic form or Tails's natural power.

"Hey Tephiroth, you okay?" Chris turned and asked.

The Three-Winged Angel coughed and wiped some unusual blue goo from the corner of his mouth, "Yeah, I should be fine for now. But I need anti-radiation drugs or something of that measure if I am to give him any more help."

"Okay then." Chris ran off to go get some medications from the first-aid lockers of the ship.

Immediately, Maledict's somewhat smug face appeared on their viewscreen.

"Oh, what is this? An Angel coming to my aid?" With that line, the Devil got Tephiroth's attention.

"Greetings, Lord Maledict." Tephiroth bowed slightly; despite his Angel background, Tephiroth still deeply respected the Devil for his sheer will and power.

"So, why have you come this time? Did that coward Allysion send you to attack me while I was preoccupied?"

"No. I came here by myself. She doesn't even know that I am here. And besides, Dark Tails has been attacking the Angels too; thus, we have the same goal."

"... I see." He was still supicious, "Well, thank you for coming, because we need all the help we can get."

"Oh crap..." Beelzebub warned from beside his best buddy, "More corrupted Demon ships! Fire at will!"

Indeed, several more cobalt warships began appearing in the Planet's orbit.

"Not again!" Tsali and Eric went off to help take out the corrupted ships.

...

Tails, determined as ever, briskly stepped into the massive, cavernous corridor, where he was met by an all-too familiar face stanidng in the center.

"Salcerus!" Tails exclaimed, looking upon the form of the Chaos himself.

"Greetings, Miles." The Mephiles-esque kitsune greeted him cordially.

"Just who are you, and what is your goal and the goal of Dark Tails?" The Chosen One asked.

"You're referring to me as if Dark Tails is a totally seperate creature." Salcerus replied.

"What does that mean?"

"I AM Dark Tails, Miles. And so is my other form, which you know as Shroud Prime. The creature Dark Tails is our third; our current forms are simply the servants of his will. Dark Tails, Salcerus, and Prime; we are three divine Persons in one immortal God-head, for we are the God of Darkness." Salcerus explained.

Before Tails could reply, a small floating blob of blue liquid formed from beside Salcerus, growing larger and larger until a shiny red object had suddenly appeared inside it, a glowing pulsating brain. Two bright-red eyes had also appeared in the floating blob.

It was none other than the head of Shroud Prime, without the tentacles that Tails had remembered from before.

"Hello, Miles Prower. It's been a very long time." A deep, mature voice spoke; the parasitic watery creature was speaking.

"... Shroud Prime?" Tails remembered; they hadn't fought since early after Tails and his crew had left Mobius. Infection Forms were beginning appearing around the giant creature.

"Let's end this now!" Tails challenged. He saw Salcerus suddenly teleport about six feet in front of him, with a beam attack in his hand.

...

"Tails! Tails! Don't listen to them! You're going right into a trap!" Tsali desperately attempted to say, but he was having no success getting through to Tails. "Fuck, does none of my equipment work?"

However, he then noticed Trinity begin to float towards the Planet.

"Trinity, where do you think you're going?" Tsali asked.

"Tails is going right into a trap; you saw it yourself, Tsali!" Trinity explained, "I have to go in there!"

"But what about..." Shadow began.

"I won't be long! I'll teleport in there and then get out before the Energy weakens me too much." The white fox cut off Shadow. "Don't worry."

...

Unknown to Tails - who had his eyes shut waiting for the blow - Salcerus saw Trinity appear, and found an even better target. The second before he unleashed his beam attack, he turned to the white fox faster than he could react.

_SHING!_ Tails slowly opened his eyes when he didn't feel anything, and was shocked by what he saw.

It was none other than Trinity, who had just appeared in to the left of Tails and had been impaled through by the attack.

"Trinity, NOO!" Tails exclaimed as Trinity fell limply to the ground. Promptly, both Salcerus and Prime morphed into a puddle and vanished from the scene of the crime. Tails immediately ran over to his friend's side.

Trinity desperately attempted to weakly drag himself away, and failed completely as his strength faded.

"Don't move! I'll heal you!" Tails assured, preparing Chaos Regeneration.

"... No..." Trinity hoarsely spoke.

"What?" Tails asked.

"... Even if you used Chaos Regeneration on me... I have absorbed too much radiation... I will still die..." The prince explained his words.

"No..."

Tails... I'm so sorry... for everything..."

"There's nothing to be sorry for, Trinity! You saved Cosmo and you helped us throughout the good and bad times." Tails comforted his dying friend.

Trinity looked into his eyes and smiled weakly. "Thanks, Tails. You always were a good person." He promptly gasped in pain as he clutched onto his stomach wound, which was rapidly beginning to turn blue and mutate from the massive radiation around them.

"... Shit... The Dark Chaos... It's beginning to react..." The white fox struggled to keep himself alive with no effect.

"Trinity..." Tails simply spoke, before the former prince took the Chosen One's hand in his own.

"Tails... Please do one thing for me..."

"Yes?"

"... Tell Cosmo... that despite the fact that I know she loves you, no matter what happens... I will always love her with all of my heart... Will you tell her that?" Trinity weakly requested, not realizing that Cosmo herself was actually watching the whole thing.

The Chosen One paused for a moment, before replying, "Of course I will."

"... Thank you..." By now, his voice was a mere whisper.

Within that second, the former prince gasped like he was being choked as he clutched his now-bubbling wounds. As he struggled to keep his spirit within him, he jerked his head upwards towards the ceiling as he spoke his final word.

_"... Father..."_

With that, Trinity's body limply slumped to the floor as he gave up the ghost, his milky eyes staring motionlessly at the ceiling. Tails desperately checked for a pulse, but there was none.

Now there was no doubt of it; Trinity was dead.

For a few seconds, Tails simply stared at the body of his friend blankly, as a river of tears began welling up in his eyes. As he closed the eyelids of his deceased friend with his hand, he put his hand to his own face and began weeping. Unbeknownst to him, Cosmo had also begun weeping from the captain's seat of the Typhoon.

Suddenly, an unusual noise came from Trinity's body as it suddenly began twitching. His left eye began rapidly swelling larger and larger like a balloon. Within about a second, it exploded in a small cloud of bright-blue flesh, and his eye had been replaced by a writhing blue tentacle sticking from his socket.

Within moments, his other eye had been destroyed as well. Tentacles then began coming out of his motionless mouth, squirming as the Shroud cells surrounding him devoured his flesh from the inside. The Chosen One recoiled in disgust at this fate.

Soon enough, the corpse of Trinity had been eviscerated as it slowly melted into a puddle of blue radioactive goo and dissolved into nothingness, the sickening gurgle of the thick gory liquid resounding through the room.

To Tails's surprise, his communicator began beeping as the voice of Satan barely cackled through.

_"Tails! We can mourn him later, but now there is no time! You have to stop Dark Tails right NOW!"_

_**"God fucking damnit, Maledict!"**_ Amy's tearful voice suddenly screeched at the Devil over the radio, interrupting his message, _"Can't you understand that a good friend of ours is dead? Or are you just so cold and uncaring that it doesnt matter?"_

_"Miss Rose, I understand completely, but we're running out of time! Every minute now counts! Tails, you have to find the Dark Planet Egg!"_

Tails prompty stopped weeping and took his hand away from his face; now, his sorrow had changed into pure rage and bloodlust. Small Shroud tentacles began appearing out of his backside as the parasite reacted to his emotions.

"... Don't need to tell me twice."

The Chosen One grabbed Trinity's white Altus Emerald, jumped to his feet, and sprinted through the adjoining cavern with vengeance now on his mind.

...

The Chosen One sprinted into the huge circular room; he had finally reached the core of Dark Tails's world. And, just as he had been expecting, floating smack-dab in the center of the room was the Dark Planet Egg itself.

From this distence, it looked just like an ordinary Planet Egg, except it was deep-black and had visible Dark Chaos Energy flowing through it.

Tails heard his com unit turn on, and he reported, "Okay, I've entered the core and have found the Dark Planet Egg! Now what?"

_"Very good work. You mus..."_ Before the Tsali could finish, a burst of static came over the radio as Tsali desperately tried to speak through it. His voice was so muffled that it was impossible to understand him.

"Tsali, I can't understand you! You're breaking up!" Tails tried to reply. However, the unit responded by instantly losing connection. "Shit, I've lost contact.."

Suddenly, a noise like that of a strong driving wind rushed through the cavern. And then, the sound of machinery.

A large iris door that had been located right underneath the floating Dark Planet Egg suddenly opened, spewing a radioactive mist of Dark Chaos Energy.

"What the..." Tails began to say.

Then, a large watery puddle and a small pall of black smoke appeared on each side of the Egg; Tails recognized them as the alternate forms of Shroud Prime and Salcerus.

The puddle, now levitating, morphed into a sphere and coated itself around the dark artifact. The mist that was Salcerus then also morphed itself into the Egg, causing it to begin glowing a vibrant blue.

The Planet Egg, upon combining with Salcerus and Prime, suddenly descended into the blue mist spewing from the open iris door, which then began closing.

Before it closed, the divine form of the reborn Dark Tails rose up as the iris closed underneath him.

Dark Tails did not look much different than he had looked the two other times Tails had fought him; his eyes were still pupiless masses and he had no muzzle nor a mouth. The only real difference in his actual appearence was that rather than navy-blue like it was before, his skin was much more of a lighter cobalt. In addition, his body was now heavily distorted by some sort of vibrant flux field that surrounded his divine form.

"So, Dark Tails, we meet again..." Tails challenged without fear before his ultimate nemesis.

_**"... I have eagerly waited for this day..."**_

A loud, demonically-echoing voice resounded from out of nowhere. It took a few seconds before Tails realized that it was Dark Tails himself speaking, although the voice sounded like a cross between Prime and Salcerus.

**_"... You seem surprised, Miles,"_** The God of Darkness observed, **_"Did you not know that I could speak all along?"_**

The Chosen One did not reply. **_"... As I thought."_**

"Shut up. You can't win, now that you have been reduced to your true self." Tails interrupted.

Suddenly, the pupiless eyes of the Deity narrowed.

**_"... Are you really that ignorant, Miles? Have you been seriously thinking that this shell of a body was me? _****_No, Miles... This is not me. This is just a shell, a personfication of my divinity. This whole planet, and everything in it, IS me! This entire WORLD is my body. And soon, you will be too."_**

"You can't kill me, Dark Tails, and you know it. If you kill me, you will die, and so will your little world too!" Tails challenged.

He only got the familiar echo-laugh from thin air that he had by now associated with his dark doppelganger.

**_"... Who said I was going to kill you, Miles? Or... Do you think that because you and your friends still think that I actually killed Alice, Venus, and Trinity?"_**

"... What?"

_**"You do not know. You see, Miles, all of your friends whom I 'killed'... I did not actually kill them."**_ Dark Tails explained.

"Then what did you do?"

**_"... I took their forms and corrupted them with Dark Chaos, adding their bodies and powers to my own. They are my servants now; they are part of my own divine being."_**

"... So that's what you truly are, huh? A parasite that ravenously feeds on Dark Chaos Energy from living creatures to keep himself alive?" Tails asked derivisely.

**_"Yes."_** His enemy bluntly confirmed, **_"And that is why I attempted to infect you with that Shroud parasite."_**

"My... Shroud parasite?" Tails questioned.

**_"You see, the purpose of infecting you with Shroud was to slowly feed on your power remotely. However, even though it did indeed initially have a detrimental effect by radically speeding up your puberty and body systems, I was not expecting you to resist my Shroud infection enough to retain your normal being for this long."_**

**_"My plan backfired; while I attempted to weaken you with the corrosive effects of Shroud parasites, your infection instead made you more powerful than ever."_**

"I see. So that explains why you infected me with Shroud even though it made me stronger..." Tails realized.

**_"Of course, by now, there is no way to reverse the effects of your infection, by you or even me. And thus, I will simply do away with you like this."_**

"Like I already said, you can't kill me. You will also perish."

**_"And like I already said as well, I was never going to kill you. I am going to Corrupt you... and once I successfully Corrupt you, our souls will be united forever, and I will become more powerful than Altus Himself. W_****_ith that power, I will annihilate this Universe and create a new Universe in its place, a perfect, silent utopia of Dark Chaos Energy, with me as its almighty god!"_**

"... No, Dark Tails. You're no god; you're simply a parasitic alien monster whose mouth is bigger than its body." Tails metaphorically refuted.

Once more, he was greeted with the distinctive laugh.

It was at that moment that three other puddles of Dark Chaos Energy appeared around Dark Tails and morphed themselves into figures that Tails recognized; Venus the Seedrian, Alice the Cat, and Tails's recently-deceased friend Trinity.

However, instead of their normal looks, all three of them were tinted a deep blue. Just as Dark Tails did, they had no mouths nor eye pupils.

**_"Now, Miles, you will know the true power of Dark Chaos!"_**

Immediately, the three dark dopplegangers raced upon him. The Venus lookalike attempted to attack Tails with a giant copy of her scythe. Tails leaped out of the way with his Shroud-amplified reflexes.

The fox respnded by launching a barrage of Chaos Energy at the Seedrian copy. With a demonic cry, the look-a-like vanished into blue goo. It then combined with Dark Tails himself.

Now, Trinity took up the fight; he also flew at Tails with his knuckleduster spikes, attempting to impale Tails to the wall with them. He was dealt in a very similar fashion to Venus, and did the exact same thing as Venus when he went down.

The glowing body of Dark Tails raised his hand up, sending massive jagged rock spikes at Tails. Tails managed to jump out of the way, and just as he did, he unleashed a Spear barrage.

As Tails noticed, the shots were not deflected; they were actually doing some damage. The three apparitions of Tails's allies appeared from the ground yet again.

However, without warning, Tails saw Tephiroth appear right in front and dispatch all of the clones with lightening-fast sword strikes.

Tails didn't even get the time to thank him, because he teleported out right afterward before he was poisoned by the Planet.

Dark Tails rose into the air, a bright sphere of Dark Chaos Energy forming around him as he charged up.

Now, Tsali apparently joined the fight. He apeared behind Dark Tails's body and fired a Chaos Superblast. The God launched his own Superblast to block it; he was distracted.

"Tails! He's vulnerable, get him now!" Tsali desperately cried to Tails. The Chosen One promptly threw everything he had at Dark Tails - all of his Chaos moves - until Tsali teleported out into the safety of space.

But the God would not go down yet. The dark clones of Tails's allies appeared around Dark Tails, revolving around him like they were shielding his body. Tails fired more spears at the God; sure enough, they bounced and fizzled right off.

""Hmph... Shroud time!" Tails got an idea for how to power up. Using his power, he manually began drawing in Dark Chaos Energy, feeling the Shroud inside him grow and mutate every second.

Dark Tails, not giving Tails the chance, fired a Superblast at Tails, who hurriedly put up his hand to block it. Instanty, his arm morphed into a giant fleshy shield that blocked the Dark Kitsune's attack.

Then, with the control of Tails, his right arm effortlessly morphed from a giant shield to a double-side blade-like appendage. Tails almost instinctively swiped it rapidly at his foe, hitting Dark Tails numerous times, and finishing off with a suped-up Chaos Superblast for good measure.

The seriously weakened Dark Tails landed and slowly got up. By this point, he was on his last legs in terms of survival, but he was determined not to go down without blood.

"Alright, Dark Tails! It's time to end this once and for all!"

Without warning, the enormous cavern wall behind Dark Tails suddenly opened like a door, and from it came one thing that Tails recognized without any doubt.

It was the head module of the Quadraxis, floating in midair. Though its eyes were open, there was no movement, for it was in a dorment state.

_**"Yes, Miles... Yes indeed."**_

Immediately, Dark Tails began violently shaking as the head of the Quadraxis floated down behind his back. Just like Tails did back when he first felt the effects of Shroud corruption, Dark Tail's body morphed into a large slab of radioactive liquid, parts of his body melting off until he had grown around the Quadraxis head like slime covering a rock.

The eyes of the head module began glowing a bright blue as the gooey mass that once was Dark Tails formed two huge bipedal legs with sharp talons and two enormous arms to complement them.

And then, from between the two partially-obscured eyes of the Quadraxis, yet another eye suddenly grew from the center of the fleshy mass that could be barely called a head.

Dark Tails had mutated into his true self.

He was now a giant monsterous creature, three meters in height, with energized goo dripping all over his new mutant form. He roared loudly at the Chosen One; his mouth was like that of a giant lamprey, spiraling with massive teeth, and out of his mouth came a long fleshy tongue with teeth on it. Large tentacles also writhed about all over his fleshy back. Now, he didn't look anything like before; in fact, he didn't look anything like any discernable creature at all.

"Oh my god..." Tails muttered, seeing the horrifying ugliness before him, "He really IS some incomplete monster after all!"

The tongue of Dark Tails's new form suddenly lashed out at Miles, attempting to decapitate him with the razor-sharp "teeth". Tails ducked underneath it, the enormous fleshy lasso sailing harmlessy above him and slamming into the wall.

Tails, utilizing his Shroud powers, launched a Spear at the tongue, blowing the appendage right off. He heard a satisfying screech of pain from the mutated Dark Tails. However, withing seconds, the tongue began growing beck, until it had fully reformed.

"Look's like I'm gonna have to use all of the Dark Chaos Energy around me if I'm gonna win... Here goes nothing..." Tails muttered, spreading his arms out.

Lightening bolts of Dark Chaos Energy rapidly began flying into Tails's body as he began yelling like a _Dragonball Z _character. Tails felt his whole body overload and swell with Dark Chaos Energy, and he could feel the Shroud parasite inside him grow larger and larger.

Eventually, Tails stopped, for his body had become too weak to handle it. And promptly, his arms turned into gigantic razor-sharp claws, and tentacles began coming out of his back.

Sprinting with his newfound Shroud powers, Tails hacked and slashed his way through Dark Tails's glutinous flesh, ripping through it like paper. Flesh, bone, and gore poured behind Tails as he burrowed straight through the body, into the head, and leaped out.

Tails felt his Shroud powers disappear and his body return to normal as he finished his epic attack.

Dark Tails roared loudly as his mutated body fell to its knees. Promptly, as his upper body fell over, the entire form of Dark Tails melted into a puddle of radioactive Dark Chaos Energy and gore. The still-dorment head module of the Quadraxis was all that remained.

"Please say it's over... please God say it's over..." Tails prayed dearly for Dark Tails to be truly defeated. His prayer appeared to be answered, for nothing happened.

_"...ai...ls? T... ails?" _The Chosen One's communicator turned on, and the Tsali's voice cracked through it.

"Right here, Tsali. Dark Tails is not dead." Tails bluntly stated.

_"But very close." _Tsali replied, _"I can sense his life force struggling to stay alive."_

"I can sense it too." Tails added, confirming the accuracy of his observations.

Suddenly, the Quadraxis head began glowing as it spun around and fell into pieces like glass; inside it was the Dark Planet Egg.

From the remains of the head module, the Dark Planet Egg also floated in the air and began spinning around as well, the crystal around it loudly cracking and giving off shafts of blue light.

After a few seconds, the Egg itself exploded into millions of shards, its inner contents disintegrating in midair. Tails was blown against the cavern wall by the force of the blast.

Suddenly, large tendrils from what was the interior of the Egg shot right towards the Chosen One, grabbing him and spearing him like long needles.

Tails collapsed on the ground as burning lanced through him. His entire body hurt so much that he wanted to die just to end the pain.

He screamed in pain as the feeling once more took over his body; a lancing burn that felt like his legs and arms were being chopped off.

Glancing towards his arms, he realized why and recoiled at what was happening. His left arm had suddenly turned a bright blue. Tails attempted to wiggled his fingers, but couldn't. He touched his arm against the wall, and without warning, it melted into a stringy puddle of goo.

"Oh my god!" He muttered, completely shocked beyond belief. It didn't hurt at all, surprisingly.

Tails then felt the same thing happen to his left leg as well; his leg rapidly also melted off of his own body. Tails fearfully crawled to the wall with his right arm and left leg as the pain took control of him, traumatized by his own body parts melting off of him and barely able to get anywhere thanks to the radioactive stumps that one were his limbs.

That heat was promptly replaced with cold as several tentacles burst from the wall behind him and lassoed him up like ropes. Their strength slowly grabbed him and squeezed him like a boa constrictor.

...

"What's going on? What the hell is happening? Tell us now, Maledict!" Amy demanded.

None of Tails's friends could see, but Satan could easily sense everything that was happening.

"The Shroud parasite inside Tails has grown too powerful for him to control because of over-exposure from Dark Chaos Energy, and the remains of Dark Tails are using that unstable parasite to corrupt him from within. If Tails is successfully corrupted, Dark Tails will become invincible. Their souls will combine, and without the one threat to his life - Tails, that is - the Dark Kitsune will be unstoppable." Maledict explained solemnly.

"Then we have to go in there and save him, right now!" Knuckles demanded.

"... I'm sorry Knuckles, but it's not that simple. At this point, Tails has been radically weakened, and the Dark Chaos Energy from Dark Tails is the only thing supporting him; if we would cut off his access to Dark Chaos Energy, he would die anyway for the severity of his current wounds. And we cannot just go in there and save him; the radiation is far too strong." Eggman refuted.

"The only thing to do now is to destroy the Dark Chaos Planet, killing Tails and vanquishing Dark Tails, before Tails is corrupted. I have just managed to repair the controls for the _Leviathan_'s superlaser. We will have to combine the power of the Sonic Driver and the Eric Driver with the superlaser on my ship to destroy the Planet," Maledict came in.

"That... No..." Sonic stuttered, out in space.

"... It was Tails's destiny from his birth to vanquish the God of Darkness... and to lose his life in the process. For he is the Chosen One." Maledict bowed his head and closed his eyes.

"... NO!" Sonic yelled, preparing to fly towards the Dark Chaos Planet. He was held back by Shadow and Eric together.

"Sonic, stop!" Tsali yelled, "You can't go in there! The Dark Chaos Energy will peel you apart!"

"But you can, Tsali! You have to rescue him!" Sonic desperately refuted.

"... Tails is almost on the brink of death anyway. I'm sorry, but there is nothing I can do now. Tails has made his choice, Sonic... and he is willing to suffer the consequences of that choice." Tsali spoke grimly, all too familiar of the emotions that were brought about by losing a close companion.

"Sonic, Shadow! You get into the Sonic Driver. Tsali and I will go into the Eric Driver." Eric ordered, "We'll have to use all of our power to obliterate that thing."

"This is our last chance. Let's do this." Shadow agreed, and was about to fly back to the Typhoon. However, he didn't go once he noticed Sonic was simply staring at the Planet blankly, like he was trying to shut off his mind to what he was about to do.

"Sonic, please! We can't do this without your help!" The black hedgehog pleaded.

"No..." Sonic refused with a sniffle. "I... can't..."

"We need you... and Tails needs you, too!" Tsali also spoke, "He knows what he is doing! We have to stop Dark Tails once and for all!"

Sonic, shaking his head, took one last sad glance at the planet and then reluctantly followed them; he didn't want to, but he knew all too well that he had no choice.

His little brother - the one he had loved for so long - was about to die, and there was nothing he could do about it.

...

Meanwhile, the bridge of the Blue Typhoon had also descended into slight chaos.

"We can't just leave him there and let him die!" Knuckles began yelling, now mentally reduced to aimless hysterics out of an inability to cope with Tails's impending fate, "Chris! Help us!"

Chris, now, had turned away and was struggling to keep himself from bursting into tears. "I'm... sorry..."

The leaders of the Metarex simply stood there looking upon the Planet in silence. Charmy, Cream, and Amy promptly began bawling loudly. Cosmo, meanwhile, was sitting motionlessly, staring at the floor with his mouth slightly open.

"Cosmo! Aren't you paying attention? Tails is gonna die! We need your help!" Knuckles insensitively yelled at her, prompting a gasp from the young Seedrian.

Rouge instantly grabbed the echidna and slapped him fiercely across the face, making him stagger backwards as he snapped out of his stupor. "You bastard! Can't you see how hard this is for all of us?" Rouge herself was also holding back tears.

"... Everyone?" Cosmo gently asked, catching everyone's attention.

"Could you all... please leave? I need to be alone right now..." She asked quietly. Everyone followed her command and silently began walking towards the observation deck a floor above the bridge.

...

As Cosmo's immediate friends and allies tearfully left the command bridge as they made their way to the observation deck one floor above, Cosmo sat silently, still not taking her eyes off of the Dark Chaos Planet several light-minutes in front of the Typhoon.

After a minute or two, everybody had left; the young Seedrian was now completely alone in the dark, empty room. The only noises that alerted her ears were the noises of the machinery and computers around the bridge, but there was no other sound to speak of.

She still did not take her eyes off the Dark Chaos Planet as her entire life seemed to flash before her eyes, from her birth to her escape from Tsali to meeting with Tails and all of the romantic moments they had together during their long conflict against Maledict.

And she could not bring her conciousness to believe that everything was about to end, despite the signals in her brain that told her so.

Cosmo felt a single, solitary drop of water come from her eye; it streamed down her face, dripped off her chin, and splattered on the floor. She could literally hear it impact the metal floor below her, such was the silence.

However, the situation was soon changed as the image of Maledict came through her communicater.

"Cosmo! The Sonic-Eric Driver is now connected and ready, and the _Leviathan_'s beam is ready to fire upon your command. Begin firing sequence!" The Devil declared.

On the small station in front of her, a large automatic targeting reticule extended, showing a large red crosshair zooming in and locking directly onto the Dark Chaos Planet.

"Sonic-Eric Driver... Fire!" The voice of Satan announced.

Temporarily forgetting her shock and sorrow, Cosmo flipped open the covering to the fire button located on the control to her right. She place her finger upon its tiny form.

"... Let's do this!" She yelled with determination, prepared to finish the fight.

However, it was only then, just before she pressed the button, that she realized that the life of her true love was now in her hands; with a single push of that button, she would wipe out not only the God of Darkness himself, but the boy she loved for than anything.

She glanced at the thing hurriedly; it had such an seducing allure, like the famous legend of Maledict tempting Jesus on Chris's planet. So harmless, and yet, so important at the exact same time.

Notwithstanding, she tried to push the button anyway; however, as she tried, she simply could not. It was as if something in her body was physically holding her back. At least, that was before she came back to her sense and understood what she was really about to do.

She cried out as a sharp pain sliced through her head; she could not do it, no matter how hard she tried. The Seedrian laid her head down on the console before her as tears began pouring from her sockets.

"No... No... I can't kill him! There's no way... After all that we have been through... It can't just _end_ like this!" She sniffled as she righted herself again, never taking her eyes off of the Dark Chaos Planet. She also closed the cap over the fire button.

Maledict's voice immediately responded to her. _"Cosmo! I know your feelings all too well, but if you do not fire, Dark Tails will corrupt Tails and become immortal! You are the last chance to vanquish him once and for all! The only way to vanquish the God of Darkness and destroy the Dark Planet Egg now is to kill Tails!"_

Cosmo closed her eyes and shook her head, not bothering to wipe away the crescendo of tears now streaming down her face. "No... Why does it... have to end?"

Without warning, however, there was a signature beep as an unknown figure suddenly hooked up to their private inter-navy link.

_"... Cosmo..."_ The weak voice of Miles Prower spoke. Cosmo felt her heart skip a beat as she heard his voice.

"Huh?" Maledict exclaimed, immediately realizing who had just managed to contact them.

"Tails! I'll get you hooked up!" She exclaimed, revitilized with vain hope. She promptly connected a visual feed to his com unit through the Typhoon's systems.

And thus, the dying form of Tails appeared on the viewscreen, which was filled with static thanks to the radiation.

He was slouched to the wall, and large wounds were covering his form as his fur color randomly changed from blue to white and back again; the Dark Chaos Energy was finally beginning to affect him profusely. His left leg and right arm had both literally melted off of his body into long strings of radioactive blue slime. Tentacles regularily ripped through small patches of fur as they slowly devoured him outwards. More tentacles from the wall constricted his body slowly tightening their asphyxiating grip around him.

Tails, however, managed to lift his eyes towards the eyes of his lover.

"Tails! Oh my god!" She cried out in surprise and horror at his condition.

_"... I worked... I can't believe that I was able to contact you..."_ The Chosen One suddenly coughed a blue-ish goo as the Dark Energy slowly took him over and the tentacles became tighter, _"... I don't have long left... You have to fire and finish it! With my death, Dark Tails will be vanquished once and for all..."_

"WHY, Tails?" Cosmo slammed her fist on the keyboard in sudden fury, "You promised me that once this was over, I could live with you on your planet! Was that all just a lie?"

_"... It was no lie, Cosmo..."_ Tails slowly shook his head as he was pressed more and more, _"... But it seems that now, I have no choice but to break that promise... to save everyone."_

"But... Tails, don't you see? You helped me overcome my fears! You gave me a reason to live! Does that not mean anything?"

_"Cosmo... Until the last, you have given me more than I could have asked for in my entire life,"_ The dying Chosen One bowed his head, as if having a flashback. _"When I was a young kit on Mobius, my life was a living hell... I had no friends, my parents were dead, and I was universally hated by everyone because of my two tails. In response, I hated everybody, and eventually, I hated myself... In fact, I grew so depressed that I tried... to commit suicide..."_

Everybody except for Sonic and Maledict gasped as they listened; the Chosen One had never told them this secret up until now.

_"...It was only when Sonic saved me and became my surrogate brother that I slowly began to see the goodness in others. And over the years, I have met many friends and have fought many foes..."_

Hence why Sonic did not gasp; he remembered the day he first encountered Tails, whom he witnessed try to throw himself off a cliff into the ocean. Sonic barely grabbed his leg before he had fallen too far, saving him from death. The cobalt hedgehog always had that terrible day in the back of his mind like it was only yesterday.

_"But through it all, Cosmo... I always felt like something in my life was missing... Like I was lacking something... __It was only after you came, Cosmo, that I found the piece of this puzzle... You, Cosmo; YOU were the thing I was missing."_

Cosmo recoiled in her seat, sobbing as he finished his final tale.

"Thank you Tails... for everything you have done for me..." The young Seedrian was able to stutter.

_"... Cosmo... Never forget... that no matter what happens... I will always love you..."_ Tails promptly threw his head to the side and vomited a long string of chunky blue goo; an obvious sign of how close he was to total corruption.

More blue tentacles suddenly came out of his ears, slowly melting them as well. The constricting watery appendages had clamped so tightly around his body that distinctive noise of cracking ribs could be heard.

Cosmo shut her eyes tightly as she flipped open the button cover once again. "Tails... I... I..."

Her finger hovered over the button for a split-second before she screamed;

**"... I LOVE YOU!"**

She pressed the red button.

...

Instantaneously, an enormous white flash of light and an incredible _bang_ rocked the Typhoon and the Dreadnought as two gigantic beams, one white and one green, shot towards the Planet.

Though it was impossible to tell, a second after the Typhoon had fired, a crimson superlaser bolted from the tip of the DSS _Leviathan _and raced towards the cobalt planet.

The two blasts from the Typhoon and the Dreadnought came together as they traveled faster than the speed of light; the two beams combined into a single giant veridian laser of death about halfway towards their target.

They finally impacted, at the exact same time that the _Leviathan_'s beam did. There was a prompt flash of blinding light and shaking that accompanied the impact; from any of the ships, it was impossible to tell what had happened.

The viewscreen that was originally showing Tails's final moments had now dissolved into loud static.

Eventually, the light dissipated.

At first, the Dark Chaos Planet appeared completely unharmed. However, after a few seconds, several rapidly-growing cracks spread over the planetoid's surface, releasing bright shafts of blue light as the Planet raptured into pieces.

Before it could fully do so, all of the planet's pieces began glowing cobalt as they were suddenly liquified and absorbed into a single point.

And from this point, Dark Tails popped out of nowhere. However, his entire body was shaking violently; blue electricity cackled around him as his body twitched like an epileptic.

Maledict immediately sensed what was about to occur.

"OH SHIT, HE'S GONNA BLOW! GET DOWN!" Beelzebub screamed as loudly as he could over the radio, although Maledict was just about to do that very same thing anyway.

The bubbling God of Darkness reached his right hand up up, as if he was trying to grab something that was just out of reach. His entire body flashed a bright-blue as he let out his final cry;

_**"NNNNNNNNOOOOOOO!"**_

...

The Dark Kitsune's body exploded.

The force of the subsequent energy blast had the size and power of a supernova. It shook the fabric of time and space in a radius of several light-years around, unleashing a torrent of Dark Chaos Energy that had been stored inside the God's body waiting to be unleashed.

The whole spacial area within a twenty light-year radius shone a brilliant, vibrant blue from the energy levels. In fact, had one been outside the border of the Milky Way Galaxy, it would have been clearly possible to see a shaft of blue light near the center; such was the power and the force of Dark Tails's end.

Millions of Planet Eggs, their negative energy stolen by the dark fox, flew past like a huge rain of shooting stars. Every spaceship that was there at that moment was forcefully yanked backwards.

However, before the main wave of destruction had reached them, Maledict turned his head away and screeched,

**"ALTUS CONTROL!"**

A gargantuan red sphere of Chaos Energy expanded instantly, shielding the Demon Navy detachment and the Typhoon/Dreadnought/Egg Crimson, along with the surviving Chaos-powered anthros still in space.

The outside of the shield bent and vibrated as it struggled to withstand the full destructive force of the supernova blast that pushed against it. Had the Devil not done so, every single one of them (sans Maledict himself obviously, being omnipotent and immortal) would have been completely incinerated.

After several minutes of struggle, the force of the blast passed over and subsided. However, the whole area of space still glowed a vibrant, brilliant cobalt.

...

Cosmo's eyes shot open, expecting to find herself in the Typhoon's bridge. However, instead, she found herself on her back in an endless void of blinding white light.

"Am I... dreaming?" The girl whispered to herself

_"... That all depends, Cosmo." _She suddenly heard a familiar voice beside her. Sure enough, standing right next to her was none other than Tails, who was apparently in his Ultra form.

"TAILS!" She cried as she jumped up and glomped Tails's furry body. The Chosen One returned the hug.

"I'm... so sorry..." Cosmo began sobbing into her love's shoulder. Tails simply closed his eyes and did not say a word. "For... killing... you...

_"...We went through so much together, Cosmo..."_

"I know, Tails..." She sadly spoke.

_"... Do not worry; I forgive you for doing this. It was the only way to save everything. And never ever forget, Cosmo..."_

The Seedrian suddenly felt her fingers slip through him as he began fading from existence.

_"... I will always love you... for the rest of time and beyond..."_

"No, Tails! Don't leave me! PLEASE! I CAN'T LIVE WITHOUT YOU!..." She vainly tried to grab him tighter as he slipped away, and his body disntintegrated into a ray of light.

_"... Sayonara... Cosmo the Seedrian." _

...

Eric: On the Season Finale of Dark Chaos... Tails has given his life, Dark Tails has been defeated, and peace has now returned to the Galaxy. How will the epic saga end? Find out next on Sonic X!


	26. Episode 78: The End Begins

Today - September 1st, 2010 - is a particularily special day.

And no, it isn't because Hitler invaded Poland on this day (history trivia). Instead, it is because I am finally about to finish the greatest story I have ever created.

Three years ago, I got the idea of a remake of the third season of the anime Sonic X. My intent was to fuse what was great about Sonic X (both Japanese and English) with my own special dark twist. Using my characters from some of my earlier works, this fanfiction is the result of three years of blood, sweat, and tears.

And we are finally at the cumulation of all that work.

It's almost sad, really. I've worked with this for so long and to think that it's about to end really saddens me. In fact, I just might think about celebrating with a bottle of strong vodka afterward, lol.

Don't worry though, because this won't be the end of my fanfiction career. In fact, I have plenty more that I am planning in the future. Now that this is out of the way, I will also be updating Whose Hedgehog and Fall of the Seedrians much more.

Well, anyway, cheers to the final episode!

...

**Episode 78: The End Begins**

As the explosive wave of Dark Chaos Energy passed over the energy shield that Maledict had created, the crimson barrier slowly dissipated into nothingness.

Out in the void of space, Hyper Sonic, Hyper Shadow, Super Tsali, and Hyper Eric felt a cool breeze come over them as the now-deradiated energy passed around them. Pieces of rock, dust, and Planet Eggs were blown to and fro out of the blinding mini-star that had formed from the blast.

Shadow, Eric, and Tsali watched the light show in grim silence, until they were interrupted by a strange sound coming from their left. Their attention turned to Hyper Sonic, whom they noticed had hid his head and put his hand over his face.

For the first time in his adolescent life, Sonic the Hedgehog was now crying in his hands, completely devastated by the death of his surrogate brother.

Shadow promptly floated over and put a reassuring hand around Sonic's shoulder. Eric then joined and did the same. Tsali did nothing and simply kept looking at the remains of what once was the God of Darkness.

"Sonic?" Eric gently asked his weeping comrade.

Sonic desisted he mourning for a moment, "... Y-Yeah?"

"... We did it. Dark Tails has been vanquished and the Metarex Wars are over. We just saved the entire galaxy from being corrupted by that mofo," Eric basically threw all of his empathy out the window with a single comment.

"But... Tails..." Sonic stuttered as he was about to begin crying again.

"... Tails did what he had to do." Tsali suddenly interrupted, attracting the attention of his friends. They noticed immediately that even though he didn't make any indicating mourning sounds, there were silent tears streaming down his face.

They also noticed that he was holding something in his hand; the charred remains of Tails's white glove.

"... And for that, I am forever grateful... Miles did something that even I could never do," Tsali bowed his head in reverence, "He truly was the Chosen One. I am forever in his debt... as we all are."

"There's nothing we can do now, Sonic. Let's return to the Typhoon, and finally go home." Shadow suggested.

Immediately, the three hedgehogs and Tsali teleported away.

...

All four anthros reappeared on the flight deck of the Typhoon; as they landed on the ship surface, all four of them lost their Chaos forms, reverting back to normal.

They were greeted by all of their friends; Amy, Knuckles, Cream, Rouge, and the Chaotix. Robotnik and his three robots pals were standing off to the side. Eric's crewmates were farther down the deck.

Sonic fell to his knees the moment he hit the deck, once again resuming his sobbing.

Amy promptly dashed over to his side and embraced her lover. Normally, Sonic would have run away, but he needed her comforting presence at this point. She also began crying in Sonic's shoulder as the two hedgehogs hugged each other tightly, not even caring that everyone else on the deck could see them.

Luke the Seedrian and his friends were near the bow of the ship, staring at the hailstorm of Planet Eggs all around them. However, they were quickly joined by Tsali, who jumped up and sat down on a small piece of damaged metal that jutted out of the hull.

The two former enemies looked upon the stunningly beautiful sight in deep silence, until Tsali broke it.

"So that is how it all ends..."

"Hmmm?" Luke turned and asked.

"... For three decades, we fought endlessly over this galaxy... And yet, now, look what it has come to."

"I know. Trust me, if I would have known what would happen, I wouldn't have helped create the Metarex." Jave spoke, glancing at his weeping comrades behind.

"I still am wondering even now; what would this galaxy be like if Thyferra hadn't been invaded, if the War never began..." Ceres, the former Yellow Zelkova, angsted.

"That's a good question, Ceres," Luke commented, "I guess we will never know how different the past thirty years could have been."

"Oh, speaking of the past thirty years... Now that we have reconciled, Luke, I always wanted to ask you something."

"Yes, Tsali?"

"... Why did you forgive Hertia? I mean, she sentenced you to death and all... And she _did _leave you on Seedrius to die..." Tsali asked.

Luke sighed as he thought over his answer. "That's a very good question too. To tell the whole truth, I never really fully forgave her until I saw Maledict's interrogation video of her committing suicide... However, long before I found out that M was Maledict, he convinced me that it was not Hertia's fault, and that _you _were to blame, Tsali."

"Hence the reason you hunted me down for so long..." Tsali muttered in realization.

"Precisely."

"But you also wanted to find her ship and save her, right?" Tsali asked.

"... Yes, but that was not necessarily because I forgave her. The real reason was because one of my primary goals was to ensure the clandestine survival of our race, and because nearly every single surviving female Seedrian was aboard the _Dandelion_, we had to find them and make sure that they would be safe."

"So basically, you wanted to save them so you could bone them day and night?" The Ultimate Weapon asked.

All of the former Metarex leaders turned and glared menacingly at him.

"... What?" Tsali asked sarcastically, "I was just kidding. But seriously, I have now been wondering what to do now that everything is over."

The expressions of the male Seedrians softened a little.

"Me too. None of us thought that we would live to see the end of this, but we did." Ceres agreed.

"I have no clue what we are going to do now. What were you planning, Tsali?" Luke asked.

The fox sighed, but said nothing. "I'm not sure either..."

There was a short, awkward pause. "Oh, come to think of it..."

"Hm?"

"I remember checking today's date, and guess what day it is?" The Ultimate Weapon remembered.

"What?" Jave inquired.

"It is the same date that Hertia unleashed the nukes on Seedrius... the day that this war started." Tsali explained.

"So exactly thirty years ago to the day..." Ceres began.

"I remember that day all too well..." Luke turned to Tsali.

"And so do I... Just before the nukes dropped, were fought on top of the Capitol Building's main spire while Greengade burned all around us." Tsali likewise turned towards Dark Oak.

"Hey, I remember that!" Jave's memories came back to him.

"Me too." Dioxin also commented.

"I think all of you guys were with us." Tsali tried to recall, "How did you guys survive?"

"Well, I actually have no idea. I just remember a deafening roar and then I suddenly woke up in a Metarex suit weeks later." Jave sweatdropped.

"I must've caught a ride on a piece of rubble or something, because I recall hitting something after getting thrown into the air by the explosion. It probably broke my fall." Ceres remembered.

"I have no clue how I survived, so don't ask me." Dioxin shrugged.

"I think something similar to Ceres happened to me too." Luke tried to recall, and failed, "But I'm not sure."

"Like I already said, I was knocked cold until I woke up in a Metarex suit with the alter-ego of Maledict standing over me."

"You know, I'm surprised you guys weren't horrifically scarred and mutilated by the blasts."

Luke shrugged, "Actually, Tsali, we were. In fact, I recall having both of my arms and legs pulverized by debris. However, when Maledict found us and took us to his alternate hideout, he apparently did massive cosmetic surgery on us in order to heal our bodies, which was successful."

"Oh, I get it now." Tsali nodded.

...

Cosmo slowly got out of her seat and walked outside to the flight deck of the Typhoon, meeting everyone else who was gathered there.

She got everybody's attention as she came up to the gathering; she was not crying anymore, but still looked as if she was about to any moment.

Tsali, realizing the value of Tails's glove to her, turned around and began walking towards the Seedrian, getting her attention.

"Tsali?" She asked, backing away as he got closer. "Tsali... Umm..."

"Don't you dare do anything stupid, Tsali..." Luke sternly warned him, but was calmed down by Jave patting him on the shoulder.

He stepped only a foot in front of her and grabbed her hand as he laid the last remnants of Tails in her palm.

"Here, Cosmo... This is all I found of Tails, and I thought you should have it." The Ultimate Weapon spoke solemnly.

The Seedrian stared blankly at the blackened remains for a moment.

"His... glove?" She muttered, before once again releasing a waterfall of tears. She took a few steps towards her former nemesis before glomping him and bawling her eyes out on his fur.

"Tsali..." She choked through her tears, "... Why? Why did it have to end this way? I loved him... I _LOVED_ him! And now, he's... gone..."

Cosmo, however, suddenly stopped crying. "No... No... I can't take it anymore!" The Seedrian suddenly jabbed her hand into Tsali's tail fur, and she took his revolver from behind him.

"What the...?" Tsali spoke, but he was just a bit too slow to stop her.

And at that moment, after looking at Tsali's magnum for a few seconds, she put it up to her temple. Everybody gasped.

"Cosmo, what are you doing? Put the gun down right now! I can't lose you too!" Luke desperately pleaded.

**"Fuck you, Dad!"** Cosmo screamed at her own father, completely shocking him silent.

"Cosmo..." Amy slowly muttered.

"... There is nothing left! Don't you see?" She snapped, "I've lost everything! First my planet... then my entire family... and now Tails! Everything I love is now gone... and it's all my fault! This is the only thing left for me..."

Cosmo cocked the safety catch off, preparing to take her own life.

"Cosmo, listen to me now! How do you think Tails would react if he found that the person he loved had gone and killed herself?" Tsali gave her a reason.

The Seedrian froze, realizing the truth in his statement.

"Not only that, but what about your mother? Hertia did the same thing that you are about to do! Do you want to take the coward's way out like she did?" Shadow came in.

Cosmo, however, promptly became enraged; now, she pointed the gun not at herself, but at Shadow. "How _**DARE**_ you call my mother a coward!"

Luke, recognizing the tension of the situation, began walking towards his surviving daughter, getting Cosmo's attention.

"He wasn't calling your mother a coward, my daughter," he assured, "He was simply saying that what she _did_ was cowardly, and he's right."

"Exactly." Shadow clarified, honestly fearing for his safety.

"Well then..." Cosmo's voice suddenly became dangerous, and now she turned her aim away from Shadow to Tsali, "I think I know who _would _dare call her a coward... TSALI!"

Tsali simply facepalmed, "You can't hurt me with that thing, Cosmo; I have armor that can block any bullet no matter how large or strong."

"Shut the fuck up! Now I see everything" She suddenly snapped, "It was all YOUR fault from the start! If you wouldn't have chased me to Mobius, Tails would still be alive! You killed my family and destroyed my life, and if I'm gonna kill myself, then I'm taking YOU with me!"

In reaction, Tsali stepped forward in order to grab the gun. Cosmo instantly fired a single shot; it bounced off of Tsali's shoulder harmlessly. She fired a second shot momentarily after; it bounced off of Tsali's left thigh.

The black fox grabbed Cosmo's arms before she could shoot at him again and pinned them behind her back with only one hand. Luke stepped forward, but Tsali held up his free hand to dissuade him.

"Don't worry, Luke. I'm not gonna hurt her." The fox assured, before turned his attention to Cosmo. "However, I will not release you until you calm down and drop my gun."

The Seedrian attempted to struggle, but to absolutely no effect. Eventually, she gave up, and let the Demon firearm slip out of her hand. Tsali promptly released her and took his weapon back, just as he promised.

"You're... You're right. I overreacted..." Cosmo admitted, almost silently, "I'm sorry."

...

On the bridge of the DSS _Leviathan_, the unholy trinity of Maledict, Beelzebub, and Astorath also watched the dazzling light show in silence. Satan's two friends looked at their lord in question.

"So... What do we do now, Maledict?"

"What _can _we do? The Metarex Wars are done and Dark Tails has been terminated. Dere's nothing left to shoot." Astorath added.

At first, the Devil did not reply and kept staring at the Planet remains before breathing in deeply to himself.

"Sonic wishes to return to his home planet with his friends and live there." The Evil One explained.

"So you _did _tell him about..." Beelzebub began to say.

"... Yes, I did," The black hedgehog interrupted his komrade, before continuing, "There is nothing left for us to do here. Have the surviving ships prepare to Warp jump to Hell orbit immediately."

"But what about Luke and the others?" Beelzebub asked, "They're still on the Typhoon with Sonic's friends.

"... Well, komrade, after some deliberation, I have decided to give them a repireve for their help during our fight. Before we jump, though, I would like to speak with all of our brave komrades." With that, the Devil teleported out of the bridge in a gray flash.

...

He immediately appeared on the bridge of the Blue Typhoon, drawing the angered attention of every single hero on the deck.

The Devil cleared his throat and began to speak just as Tsali and the former Metarex leaders focused their attentions on him.

"Hello everyone. I just wanted to tell all of you... that despite what all of you think, this is not how I wanted things to turn out. I would have certainly preferred it if everything could have occured without needless loss of life."

"But what WAS your plan, anyway? What was the point of beginning everything in the first place?" Espio suddenly asked.

"... That I cannot say. But there is one thing I have come to say now before I depart with my fleet to my home world..." There was a short, silent pause. "... I... I am so sorry... For everything that I have done..."

Everybody - even Tsali and the Metarex - gasped and stared blankly at him in surprise; this was the last thing that they had expected him to reveal.

"Huh?" Knuckles, Fang, Eric, and Tsali yelled in surprise.

"... Throughout our previous fight with Dark Tails, I was thinking about everything that has happened for the past thirty years, and it was then that I began to sorrowfully regret it."

The repentant Devil turned to Tsali and the Metarex leaders.

"Tsali... Luke... I know that I destroyed your lives in my scheming, and that I unwittingly created a devastating war by doing so; with all of my heart, I apologize."

He then turned and looked at a shocked Cosmo.

"Cosmo... Because of my own manipulation, your mother and your sisters were murdered and you were put on the run for most of your life... Likewise, I also give my apologies."

He looked to Sonic, "Sonic... I should have appeared and told you the truth from the moment Tsali found you on Mobius... And I should never have gotten you and your friends involved in my own business..."

There was a dramatic silence lasting for about ten seconds, before Amy suddenly glared at him and yelled. "Do you seriously expect us to just _forgive _you after the terror that you unleashed? Billions are dead because of you! The lives of Elise, Tsali, Cosmo, and Luke have been ruined forever thanks to you!"

Maledict paused for a moment, letting everything he had just said sink in with our heroes before concluding.

"... Miss Rose... I do not expect you to forgive me, and that's okay. I am not seeking forgiveness or pity; only understanding. I just wanted you all to know... how I truly feel now."

Amy's glare let up somewhat as Satan's expression suddenly turned almost tearful.

"Sonic... I only wanted the best for you... I wanted to create a Galaxy where you could uses your full potential and realize your own destiny..."

Sonic stopped weeping and stared at his father in surprise.

"... But in the process, I... I went mad with anger, and because I was unable to control the course of events, things turned out like this. However... I also wanted to say one last thing before we part, perhaps forever..."

"... Yes, what is it?" Shadow commented.

"... I want to thank you - all of you - for what you have gone through, and for your help in stopping Dark Tails. You are the greatest and bravest komrades I have ever known, and know that for your sacrifices, you have my eternal respect. For you help and for your gallantry in our finest hour, I have pardoned Luke, Jave, Ceres, and Dioxin along with Tsali and Cosmo; they are all free."

Maledict, upon finishing, turned around and prepared to warp away.

"Dad, wait a sec!" Sonic suddenly called out to him, causing his father to freeze.

"... Before you leave... I just wanted to say... that I'm so sorry for who I am." Sonic bowed his head and admitted.

"... Don't be, Sonic," He replied without turning to face our heroes, "You are everything I hoped you would be and more; that is all I could ever ask for. And knowing that you are alive and will be able to live peacefully on Mobius... That thought alone was what brought me to my senses at this late hour."

Suddenly, Maledict did an unusual hand gesture over himself; Luke and Tsali realized that it was actually a reverse Sign of the Cross.

"And thus, wherever the future takes us... Farewell, my son, and all of your friends. Live long and rebuild your lives anew."

"Wait! Where are you going?" Sonic called to him.

"... I must return to Hell with my friends and komrades. My people need their leader, and this Galaxy needs the help of the Demons to rebuild. That is why I must leave you now. Perhaps we will meet again in the future, but for the time being... Goodbye, everyone."

With that, Satan vanished in a gray flash.

...

On the bridge of the Dreadnought, Eric and his friends were sitting around and talking. Sonya, while still sad, had calmed down by this point.

"Well, now that our epic over-the-top trip is over, what are we gonna do now?"

"I have an idea! Let's go back to Mobius and get high! We'll go roll some blunts down in mah crib."

**"YEAH!" **Fang, Chase, Nolan, and Brian cheered simultaneously. Sonya and Mighty facepalmed.

"No Chase, not you." Sonya reminded.

"Oh c'mon, Eric let me drink some of his vodka just yesterday. I'm mature enough."

"I thought I told you never to mention that!" Eric shouted; time for yet another angry bi-language rant courtesy of Sonya, who promptly began marching angrily towards him.

Chase fearfully put his hand over his mouth, "Sorry, Eric." He lost it and began laughing as Sonya began said rant.

A couple minutes later, the girl finally quieted down. Having always watched over Chase like he was her son, the idea of Eric indulging him in mature pleasures at such a tender age could make even her calm blood boil.

"... Better now?" Fang asked.

"Yeah, I'm fine now. Sorry about that." She replied, now calm once again.

"I wonder what's going on in the Typhoon and Crimson Egg right now..." Chase wondered.

"They're probably bawwwwwwwing and furiously masterbating to a picture of Tails." Eric replied. However, nobody else laughed.

"I can seriously just imagine Cosmo sitting in the bridge right now going 'Oh, Tails! I'm so sorry! Forgive me... AHH!'" Eric imitated a girl's voice as he pretended to finger himself, hoping to get the spirits of his friends up.

Sonya in particular knew he was being an out-of-character jackass for the lulz, so she didn't get involved with it. Plus, knowing Eric well, she knew he often said stupid things for cheap laughs.

"You know Eric... I dare you to go up to Cosmo and say that to her face." Sonya commented ominously. Privately, she was absolutely furious at their insensitivity, but her calm personality kept her fury in check.

"Nahh, I'm jus' jokin'." Eric nervously chuckled. "You know I don't mean it. But in all seriousness, it's shit that Tails had to bite the dust."

"Tell me about it." Mighty shook his head, "Poor guy."

"'Poor guy'? He just got his ass blown to kingdom come. I think 'poor guy' is a little too tame." Eric replied.

You know, Eric, that you're jokes really don't fit the mood." Sonya was trying to give Eric the hint to stop joking be respectful to Tails's sacrifice.

"Hey, it's not like Cosmo is here to yell at us." Eric spoke, obviously not understanding.

"No, Eric. I meant 'Shut the fuck up and respect what Tails just did for us'." She explained, her anger and annoyance slowly rising.

"Ohhh... Okay." Eric nodded.

"We just lost Tails, Sonic's brother and the boy that Cosmo was madly in love with. Don't say unnessescary things at a time like this." She added in order to appeal.

"You know me, Sonya. You know that I don't like it when the mood gets down." Eric himself also explained.

His girlfriend simply shrugged. "Of course, but still, you should learn."

...

The crew members of the Typhoon solemnly walked back onto the bridge of the Typhoon. Interestingly enough, Cosmo was not crying anymore; she was instead sitting motionlessly in Tails's chair, staring blankly at the charred glove that once belonged to her true love.

"... Cosmo?" Amy quietly asked.

The young Seedrian turned around, her pale face glowing somewhat from the light of the Planet remains. She did not say a word, but only gave Amy a look equivalent to that of a sad puppy.

Amy stepped next to her friend and promptly wrapped her arms around the girl; she was not crying anymore, but she was still visibly depressed. "We've all lost a friend here today, Cosmo, but don't be sad. Tails wouldn't want you to be."

"I know, Amy..." Cosmo replied, still depressed beyond measure.

"Should I pilot the Typhoon back to Mobius for you?" The pink hedgehog inquired.

Cosmo breathed in deeply, collecting herself in order to respond, "No, I can handle it."

"Are you sure?" Amy asked.

"Yes, but thank you for offering." Cosmo added.

"It's the least I can do for a friend."

As Cosmo stood up, she and Amy gave a friendly hug. "Thank you for everything, Amy. You are a great friend, and a genuinely nice person."

"By the way, Cosmo... Now that I remember it, I wanted to apologize for my distrust of you when you first arrived on our planet. It was really rude of me to do that, and highly insensitive to your situation." Amy apologized.

"Likewise..." Both Amy and Cosmo turned around at the voice; Knuckles had strolled into the bridge behind them, "I also wanted to apologize for my own suspicion too."

"Thank you, Knuckles. You have helped me for so long... Indeed, everyone has."

At that point, Sonic, Tsali, Shadow, Amy, Chris, Cream, Rouge, and the Chaotix appeared on the bridge, followed by Cosmo's father and the other Metarex leaders.

Cosmo and Sonic locked eyes with each other; both of them were still tearful, although Sonic had stopped openly crying. However, the young Seedrian regained her composure as she stood up slowly.

"Tsali..." Cosmo then turned her attention to the two-tailed android, "Sorry for my little raeg attack earlier."

Tsali did a rare emotion; he chuckled slightly. "It's alright. I knew that you couldn't hurt me; I was simply afraid that you would accidently shoot one of the others."

"Yes..." Sonic suddenly got up and walked in front of everyone, getting everyone's undivided attention.

"Sonic?" Chris inquired.

"... If we have the time, I just wanted to say a few words here in memory of my brother before we return home. I feel that Tails deserves to know my true thoughts." Sonic explained.

The hedgehog began to make a small speech. He didn't think about what he was saying very much; it simply came to him naturally.

"Several years ago, I met a young fox during one of my standard runs through the Mystic Ruins; he was trying to throw himself off of a cliff into the ocean, and I narrowly saved him from death. And now, I still cannot fathom that on this day, years later, that same fox would end up saving the entire Universe and destroying a demonic Chaos Being. Through all the times in between... Well, it would take far too long to dictate everything, for Tails was not just my follower, or 'sidekick' as some people referred to him as. He was far more than that..."

Sonic cleared his throat as he continued,

"... He was nothing short of a hero; a fox who always kept going when things got rough and when everything turned against him. He was always supportive of the whole team, never leaving anyone out of the equation. A genius without equal, and yet still loving and caring, he always put others before himself, and never let anything stop believing in himself. He looked up to me, and I know he wanted to be like me, but as he realized over time, he was truly strong in his own right."

"... And right now, Tails, my brother, is doing what he dreamed of for his entire life. He is now flying high - in the highest of all the heavens - with Somebody waiting for him. And that Somebody will take him back to where he belongs... in Paradise."

He finished; "Tails... I love you... and may you be blessed forever." Sonic paused, deciding to end his impromptu eulogy right there. As he looked around at his friends, he saw that he had truly succeeded.

Cosmo, Cream, Rouge, and Knuckles were so moved that all of them began very lightly crying from the speech. So were everyone else except for Luke and Tsali, who were simply staring at him blankly like they couldn't believe what they had just heard.

"I just wanted to get those thoughts out, but I think we should give Tails a more... proper buriel once we get back to Mobius, don't you think?" Sonic asked, and everyone nodded.

"That was..." Amy sniffed, "... so touching, Sonic." She instantly began bawling again.

The hedgehog sighed, "Well, it was bubbling in my mind for a while, and I just wanted to do it for Tails."

"I'm sure he would have been overjoyed to hear all that. I certainly would be." Knuckles said.

"I would like the bury Trinity with him, if at all possible."

"Of course. He sacrificed himself to help Tails; he deserves our praise as well." Espio agreed.

"Anyway, is everyone ready to go?" Luke asked from out of the blue.

"I think so, Father." Cosmo replied. Everyone else nodded.

"Then let us all go to Mobius. If it would be alright with all of you, me, Cosmo, and my comrades would like to live on your planet. Our home is gone, and so now is our opportunities. We could rebuild our lives." The former Dark Oak requested politely.

"Please?" Cosmo also took her stance.

"Sonic, what do you think?" Amy asked. Sonic closed his eyes in deliberation.

"... Sure, Cosmo. Despite our early misunderstandings with the Metarex, come with us; it's the least we can do for all of you... and for Tails." The hedgehog decided.

"Thank you so much, Sonic." Cosmo managed a smile.

"Tails would certainly be happy to hear that." Luke also managed a smile.

"I don't suppose you would grant _me _the same privilege." With a single statement, Tsali inadvertently drew all attention to himself.

Everyone stared at the black fox wordlessly, until Amy stepped in. "No, we wouldn't."

Tsali nodded, "I understand." He turned and prepared to walk away.

"Tsali, wait a second!" Cosmo interrupted. Tsali paused in order to hear what she had to say.

"Though I cannot fully forgive you for killing my family..." The young girl began, "... For your help and for you change of heart, please come and live with us."

"Cosmo?" Luke gasped.

"But Cosmo... He murdered your sisters! Are you saying..." Chris protested.

"... My mother once said that the power of forgiveness is far greater than the power of vengeance. I have slowly learned that ever since we found the truth about the extent of not only your revenge, but my father's as well. And once Tsali and my dad forgave each other... we were able to defeat the God of Darkness himself." Cosmo explained in a very mature manner.

"Huh..." Amy sighed, "I didn't really look at it that way."

"I didn't either, until now." Shadow also commented.

With his attention, Tsali remembered something; the score between Shadow and Tsali over Molly's death.

"Shadow... If you still want vengeance against me for Molly's death, go ahead." The black fox offered.

A dramatic pause followed.

"... Well, if there is one thing I learned from this whole journey, Tsali," Shadow began, "it is that vengeance is completely pointless."

With that statement, he got all ears.

"That's a quite a statement, especially coming from you." Vector sarcastically spoke.

"Listen for a moment! I see now that wanting revenge for Molly's death is exactly like when I wanted revenge for Maria's death. Before I was planning for both of them to be completed, I realized that the ones responsible for their deaths - the humans in Maria's case, and Tsali in Molly's case - really were not the monsters I thought they were."

He continued, "Same thing with you, Tsali; when you attempted to get revenge on Cosmo and her father, you ended up allying with them because of your realization that they were not the people that you assumed they were."

Tsali smiled, and Shadow smiled back. "When did you become a professional psychologist?" Tsali asked.

"Just now." He replied.

Everyone laughed, temporarily giving a short respite from the tragic circumstances. Even Sonic and Cosmo laughed a little bit; it was a much-needed break from the extremely serious and somber moment.

"... Thanks, Shadow." Cosmo turned to him. "At first, I didn't know who you were, but by now, I see just how much of a kind soul you really are."

Shadow simply nodded in reply. Privately, he loved the feeling of being called a "kind soul", since he was not used to others referring to him as such other than his beloved Maria.

"Chao!" Cream's little pet Cheese also exclaimed, suddenly flying over to Cosmo and snuggling itself into her arms like a baby.

"... And you too, Cheese!" Cosmo added.

"I'm with you, Cosmo. No matter what." Cream declared, putting her arm on her friend's shoulder.

"Me too!" Knuckles came by her side.

"Don't forget us!" Vector called.

Suddenly, Luke went up beside her and embraced his daughter tightly. "We're all in this together, Cosmo. Do not forget that. I have made a vow here; I will never leave your side again." Cosmo embraced her father back.

"Now..." Robotnik suddenly appeared over the viewscreen. _"_We better get going back home before something else happens."

Cosmo turned to the chubby doctor. "You're right, Robotnik. Let's g-"

The Seedrian never finished her sentence.

They were all interrupted by a blinding flash of light that came out of nowhere, followed by a wave of energy that threw everything close to it back. Cosmo, blinded by the light and deafened by the resulting loud roar, could just barely see her friends and family get thrown backwards like ragdolls, before she followed. She had no idea what was happening, only that she could not move her body or see anything within a one-foot radius.

She was stopped cold by an unknown metal object, and darkness rushed to greet her.

...

"Hey Maledict, something wierd is going on. I can't get the Warp drive to work." Beelzebub reported.

"Why?" Satan asked.

"I dunno, but there has been some sort of massive energy spike near the borders of the Milky Way Galaxy. It's beginning to grow, too." The Lord of Flies described.

"Send a distress message to Caronius for aid." The Devil ordered.

"I'm sorry to say this, but it seems that we've lost all communication with Hell... or anything outside this galaxy, for that matter." Beelzebub replied.

"That doesn't make any sense."

"Hey, don't blame me." The Lord of Flies remained innocent, "Blame my retarded lolicon whores in the Navy Kommand."

Both Astorath and Maledict chuckled. A slight rumble suddenly began to rock the ship.

"Hey, what was dat?" Astorath wondered aloud.

"I don't know, but if Dark Tails is dead, there should be no more..."

A divine flash of godly light interrupted Maledict, and a deafening bang drowned out the loud agonizing screams of the others on the bridge. A wave of force flew over him like a tidal wave, but he couldn't see what was happening from the blinding light.

He simply heard a thud... and then blackness.

...

Tephiroth strolled into Allysion's chamber, where he was greeted by Jesus and his father Yahweh speaking with the hedgehog's ghost.

_"... There you are, Tephiroth. What are you so brisk about, and where have you been?" _Allysion's ghost questioned.

"Dark Tails has been vanquished and Tsali and the Metarex have made a ceasefire with the Demons. The Metarex Wars are finally over. I was just in the Milky Way Galaxy supporting Tails during the battle," The Three-Winged Angel explained.

"Oh, well good heavens, my boy! That is certainly great news," President Yahweh replied happily.

"Well, not exactly."

"Hmm?"

"Tails sacrificed his life to vanquish Dark Tails. The creature tried to unleash Dark Chaos Corruption upon the galaxy by creating an artificial Dark Chaos Planet, but Tails managed to kill Dark Tails by destroying the planet, and died in the act."

_"Oh... I'm so sorry..." _Allysion sympathized.

"In that case, I have to wonder, Tephiroth," Jesus commented, "Did Miles Prower ever find out that you are actually his forefather?"

"No... at least, I don't believe so." Tephiroth replied.

"Well, you don't seem too sad about your own son's death." Yahweh also came in.

"Actually, I am more somber and respectful than sad." The fox-angel described his true feelings, "My son made history and saved the entire Milky Way Galaxy, and it's still difficult to comprehend it all. I am extremely proud of him, because he has truly lived up to the Prower name."

"I see. I guess I would be proud if my daughter Sarah did that too." Jesus replied empathetically, mentioning his beloved little girl.

"You guess?" Tephiroth joked, and the two chuckled in a brotherly fashion.

_"So then, you said the Metarex Wars have ended, correct?"_ Allysion inquired. Tephiroth nodded.

"That's good news... Although it will make things harder when the Demons turn their attention to us once again..." Jesus commented with an unusual amount of anxiety.

_"True, but now, we will have a respite to consolidate our gains while the Demons regroup their remaining border forces." _Allysion spoke.

"By the by, where's Metatron?" Yahweh asked.

"I have no idea. I haven't seen him for several days now." Jesus replied.

"Odd for him to be gone for that long..." Tephiroth spoke thoughtfully.

_"I recently looked into is personal logs, and he said that he was going to the Milky Way. It didn't state why, though." _Allysion explained.

The room suddenly began shaking, and a noise like a strong driving wind could have been heard from outside.

_"Shh!" _Allysion quickly shushed everyone as she heard the faint noise from outside. Upon the outset of the silence, all of the others did as well.

Everybody also noticed something else; without warning, MARY's main screen suddenly activated without any command, and its glowing form appeared on the screen near the rear of the room.

"What is that sound? What are you doing, MARY?" Yahweh asked.

**"Primary Function: Completed." **It replied in its robotic voice.

The leader of the Angels immediately realized what that meant as the electronics and lights in the room began to flicker and the room began to shake.

Large "WARNING" messages began popping up everywhere as the shaking became more intense. On the screen to the right of MARY, a hologram of Planet Heaven appeared, followed by an animation of its planetary shield suddenly deactivating.

Another message appeared; "WARNING: PLANETARY SHIELDS OFFLINE" with emergency computer codes scrolling around it. Then, "WARNING: DEFENSE SYSTEMS DISABLED"

And then, the knockout; one of the screens showed a rdar of Planet Heaven's orbit, and from out of the blue, readings began to appear. First one, and then two, and then ten, and then fifty, and then three hundred. Soon, the entire reading was covered in dots.

_"... MARY, what have you done?" _Allysion stared fearfully at the screen.

And it was at that specific, fateful moment in history when the now-rogue AI spoke the three words that changed the Universe forever.

...

**"... _They_ are coming."**

...

**_The End_**

...

_Author's Note_

I wish to say a heartfelt thank you for your reviews and support, and to all the people in my life who made this rewrite what it is.

Special thanks goes to Shawn aka. R0cknR011, who stuck through the entire fanfiction during these three long years, and for all the others who waited so patiently during the insane breaks between updates.

And finally, a very great thank-you to TMS, Sega, and Sonic Team for creating a cast of characters that I love to death and the show that inspired this work. Without them, this fanfiction would not be here today.

This is Eric Roy, aka Eric Neo Matrix signing off. Make sure to check my profile often for updates and brand-new content.

Thanks for reading, everyone!


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